I started watching this movie - already about twenty minutes into its airing - under a sense of curiosity-meets-duty (with a view to supportin' indies AND the cinematic home team)... but I ended up watching it happily to the credits because it proved to be sweet, honest, entertaining and refreshingly well made. Kinda like... Reality Bites on a micro-budget with a few "ehs" and strong beer thrown in for Northern Colour. And yet I've never even HEARD of this film.
No idea what else the filmmakers have done, but if this is in fact a first effort it speaks highly of him/her/them. They aren't splitting the atom here, and the movie is very "small" and not at all flashy, but it works despite (because of?) that. Some of the actors were true pleasures, giving quiet performances - a sign of skill, compared to the showy, tick-y bombast you tend to get in novice thesps (think Clerks). Wicked music, too - not sure if Steph's romantic interest is a known singer or was even lip sync-ing, but its great stuff - as welcome for place/time flavour as the generation-specific pop cultural refs to Ferris and the mighty John Hughes prove to be.
But all of that aside, this movie is worth seeing just for the great Karen Cliche "stupid bitch" scene. Truly heartbreaking in its nakedness, excellently acted and inventively scripted, what could have been a cheesy de riguer Hot Girl Comeuppance/Apology scene became something i haven't seen before - and the best five minutes of the flick.
No idea what else the filmmakers have done, but if this is in fact a first effort it speaks highly of him/her/them. They aren't splitting the atom here, and the movie is very "small" and not at all flashy, but it works despite (because of?) that. Some of the actors were true pleasures, giving quiet performances - a sign of skill, compared to the showy, tick-y bombast you tend to get in novice thesps (think Clerks). Wicked music, too - not sure if Steph's romantic interest is a known singer or was even lip sync-ing, but its great stuff - as welcome for place/time flavour as the generation-specific pop cultural refs to Ferris and the mighty John Hughes prove to be.
But all of that aside, this movie is worth seeing just for the great Karen Cliche "stupid bitch" scene. Truly heartbreaking in its nakedness, excellently acted and inventively scripted, what could have been a cheesy de riguer Hot Girl Comeuppance/Apology scene became something i haven't seen before - and the best five minutes of the flick.