In the cinema, there are dramedies and tragi-comedies, and whatever the heck the indie “Cautionary Tale” turns out to be.

It begins as a funny dark comedy about two men bickering over the ashes of their loved ones.

Neil (Ted Limpert) lost his ex-wife and daughter in a car crash. Jake (Andy Baldeschwiler) lost his wife. And stepdaughter.

They used to be “best friends.” So blame is flung back and forth. About “brake pads.” The phrase “Jake the homewrecker” comes up, as does “Neil the cuckold,” and who won’t have “my daugher in a box” on whose “table.”

And then Neil, who plays a children’s TV entertainer named Safety Sam, finds out that his show’s revival depends on its sale to Asian markets. His contract requires him to go to Thailand and glad-hand buyers.

Nice change of scene, free travel, a chance to mourn.

But Neil fights it, tries to insist he’s more than just this one character, picks up his guitar again and tries his hand at insipid folk pop. And he makes the contractually obligated trip.

That hijacks the movie, which doesn’t really grapple with the mourning that well as Neil lies his way through the country and into a friendship with a musical expat (Steve Calalang) and a Thai singer (Napak Boonruang) who needs help with English translations of her lyrics and who might be the woman who brings Neil back to life. Or not.

There’s an unemotional emptiness to the travel and Thai “coming to grips” sequences that left me cold.

There’s even an off-mike issue with many scenes and characters, on-camera and off, set in New York that isn’t present in the Thai travels and negotiations. Thailand has elephants, which Neil’s daughter loved, and better on-location sound recordists.

The germ of a good indie dramedy idea is here. But the execution — script, direction, acting and editing — never climb far enough beyond amateurish to be affecting.

Rating: unrated, profanity

Cast: Ted Limpert, Napak Boonruang, Matias Proietti and Steve Calalang

Credits: Scripted and directed by Christopher Zawadzki. A FilmHub release on Tubi, Apple TV

Running time: 1:27