Byington's work has been called literate, bawdy, sardonic and quirky. The
Los Angeles Times described his film
Harmony and Me as a "collision of joyous whimsy and bittersweet melancholy." His work is occasionally lumped in with the larger
mumblecore movement in part because of his appearance in
Andrew Bujalski's film
Beeswax and his use of actors, such as Bujalski,
Justin Rice, and
Alex Karpovsky, who appeared in movies carrying the mumblecore label. Byington considers his films thematically different from mumblecore and has resisted the label.
Variety agreed in its review of
Harmony and Me describing Byington's work as "mumblecore without the mumble." Unlike the extreme naturalistic dialogue of many mumblecore films, Byington's work leans towards exact dialogue and, according to Roger Ebert, "perfect timing" which is "unreasonably funny".
Filmmaker Magazine likened his rich humor to the
New Hollywood comedies of the 1970s. Concerning the process for his body of difficult-to-characterize films that nevertheless get made and seen, Byington says, "I tend to write screenplays I can imagine directing, which may explain why my films are so unambitious" (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0125887/quotes/?ref_=nm_dyk_qu). Notable actors Byington has cast in two or more of his films include
Nick Offerman, Stephen Root, Kristen Tucker, Martin Starr, Megan Mullally, Keith Poulson,
Kevin Corrigan, David Krumholtz and
Suzy Nakamura. Offerman starred in Byington's film,
Somebody Up There Likes Me, which premiered at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Offerman is also the narrator of Byington's
Frances Ferguson, a film with a discomforting subject matter, which star Kaley Wheless calls an "offbeat comedy, not for everybody" (https://thewest.com.au/entertainment/movies/revelation-perth-international-film-festival-kaley-wheless-is-one-of-cinemas-more-endearing-sex-predators-in-frances-ferguson-ng-b881604528z). ==Awards==