The centerpiece of this film is the dialogue and the relationships. I expected over two hours, but I expected to feel it. I think it was brilliant – I ate up every conversation, believed and loved Affleck with his Dad and with Liv Tyler (whose character I really liked – I hope we don’t lose a second of her in the final cut). I think when Tyler shows up is when I start enjoying Affleck more. The little girl is fantastic. Smith does a brilliant job of giving us a sympathetic father-son relationship that’s neither dominated by clichÈd abandonment/lack of affection issues or older-and-wiser omniscient father syndrome. It’s like most actual relationships – you feel like you’re seeing it in a context of the whole lives of these people; the film doesn’t attempt to idealize and capture the entire meaning of that relationship in one climactic scene.

I partly really value this because most of the crap that’s passed for movies about relationships is completely worthless in terms of identifying with the characters or situations – they mostly just try to get us to buy in to the fantasy. I’ll take something from Kevin Smith even if I have to watch some not-my-top-10 actors say the lines.

“I’m all for Jay trying to put his life together. I’ve been taking a tough love approach with Jay, telling him I wouldn’t hang out with him or work with him until he cleaned up. If the idea of a camera following him around impedes his drug use, that’s great. But at the same time it does seem kind of exploitative.”

“Early editorial feedback came from Rock’s old SNL friend Adam Sandler. ‘He thought things were pretty funny and had a seuggestion or two, and now he’s even got a joke in the movie. Kevin Smith will probably still get a little call, as will Keenan Ivory Wayans,’ said Rock.”

“Drop Dead Roses”
Starring: Brian O’Halloran, Eddie McGee, Diana Devlin, Barbi Castelvi, Chris Diamantopoulos

Written & Directed By: Jessica Hudson

“Drop Dead Roses” follows the story of Shawn and Jason (O’Halloran and McGee) who own a shop which specializes in the dirty job of breaking up with or otherwise telling off a former boyfriend, girlfriend, employee, or enemy. A box of dead roses here, box of bruised up chocolates there, and a nasty message to go along with it, all for one low price (The way the guys answer the phone at the place – “Hello, Drop Dead.” – was a favorite ongoing joke of mine). Sort of an anti-flower shop, the guys have a booming business going with a surprisingly steady stream of customers (as well as some nasty brusies from angry delivery recipients). However, when Shawn ends up making a delivery to a very unexpected recipient, his life goes into a tailspin as he gets involved in a relationship that just might be a little more than he can handle.

I’m not one to spoil a film’s plot in a review, so I won’t go into many particulars. Rounding out the cast, Diana Devlin (whose name View Askew fans may recognize from a small role in “Vulgar” as well as voice work in the Clerks cartoon series) plays Kayla, the object of Shawn’s affection in the film, and Barbi Castelvi rounds up the principal cast as her forward, devious roommate, Julia. Chris Diamantopoulos plays the supporting role of Trevor, Kayla’s ex-boyfriend.

The chemistry between all the leads was quite good, I had no problem at all believing that all the relationships were true, and immediately identified with them, hoping that things would work out for the best. O’Halloran and McGee in particular make a great pair. Brian spends most of the film in the “straight man” role, which, as in Clerks, he’s mastered quite well (there’s even a small VA ref in the film), with Eddie getting the chance to play the loose cannon and deliver a bunch of hilarious lines. This being the first time Brian’s been up in the leading role since “Vulgar”, it was great to see his work up on the big screen again. His characters are always so immediately likeable. McGee is fantastic in a role that has him pretty much stealing every scene in which he appears. The guy’s got instant charisma and plays a very likeable character with quite a bit of screentime, considering he had only a “with” credit in the opening. For his first film since taking home the big prize on reality TV’s “Big Brother, Season One”, he does a fantastic job – The guy’s a natural.

Diana Devin was very sweet and likeable both onscreen and off, and Barbi Castelvi played her role so well it was a bit intimidating to speak with her after seeing the film! Diamantopoulos plays the supporting role of Trevor, Kayla’s ex, and did a nice job at convincing me that his character was a pretty rotten dude. If every girl dated a guy like that, we’d probably live in a world full of lesbians. But I digress. Great performances all around, I truly enjoyed watching this cast work together.

The production values are also quite good. The film was shot on HD, and the rather low budget doesn’t even show. Hudson and her crew did a fantastic job making this film look slick given the limited about of bank they had to put into it. You wouldn’t know this is Hudson’s first feature by the direction, it’s quite good, stays visually interesting, and captures the many locations well. Several spots come up quite often (the store interior itself, Shawn’s apartment, the strip club), but there’s also many others that are visited through the course of DDR; they definitely scouted out quite a few locales before they started this one. The copy that screened was only a betamax, so I would imagine that seeing the film directly projected would look even better. All in all, though, a quality product, and one they all have the right to be very proud of, especially given the budgetary constraints.

The film, produced by Toronto, Canada-based Dark Features, doesn’t have a rating, though were it to go up in front of a ratings board here in the States, it’d certainly score an “R”, due to language and a bit of nudity here and there (the guys like to frequent a local strip club). It appears that most of the film was filmed in and around the Toronto area, on location, as well.

Keep in mind, DDR isn’t a View Askew Production, but I’m sure that fans of VA’s other independent projects, as well as O’Halloran’s work, will certainly enjoy the film. If you’ve got the chance to catch this one at a festival, do it…Otherwise, they’re hoping for a small theatrical run and eventual video distribution for the film. I believe many more of you will have the chance to see this one soon. If we hear of any more opportunities for you to check it out in the meantime, we’ll certainly let you know right here.

AT: Moving forward from this point, have you written other screenplays you want to get produced?

VP: Yes. I had written what I wanted to be my follow-up, which was may homage to Dario Aregento’s “Giallo” thrillers of the early ’70s. That took me three years to finish the first draft, and wrote two drafts after that. I put it on ice because it’s pretty obvious to me that the script is going to cost a pretty decent chunk of money to make. It’s a chunk of money at this time, and even if I could raise it, I’d have to give up any shred of artistic control that I might want to have.

I’ve been looking for a project to work on in between, and for awhile, I was working on the first screenplay Kevin ever wrote, which was this off-the-wall horror film. He wrote it for me back in high school when I asked him to write a script for me that I could do for a class project. Kevin came back with this seventy-page script loaded with religious philosophy. It was obvious there was no way I could do it at the time. Then, it was lost. Nobody knew where it was. Kevin couldn’t find the disk he had written it on. Then, while Kevin was in production on JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK, my Dad was cleaning the basement of our house. He unearthed a bunch of old things I’d had in high school, and amongst those things was that script.

I re-read it, and the interesting thing was that Kevin had barely remembered having written it, but a lot of the stuff I guess he had kept in the back of his mind, because a lot of these speeches and religious [ideas] ended up in DOGMA. In re-reading it, I thought the core idea of it could make for a visually interesting horror film that could be done on a very low budget. I tried to work on it for a long time…for whatever reason, I couldn’t connect with it, so that fell by the wayside. Now I’ve found a different project that…I want to do. That project seems to be going pretty well, and it looks like it’s going to be the next project because it can be done fairly cheaply, and it’s something that I have emotionally connected with to the point where I’m cooking pretty well on writing the script.

Saturday was my first day on a movie set. Not really, it was an old high school, but served as a set that day. The film was called “13th Grade” (don’t worry, I had never heard of it either) but it really seems funny and stars Dustin Diamond (he played “Screech” on Saved by the Bell”). You might be wondering why I am telling you this. Well, word on the set was that Jay Mewes had recently appeared in the film and did a great job. I was speaking to a few of the non-paid extras (the “paid-extras” wouldn’t speak to us) but none of us heard what his part was or who he was playing. Anywhoo, just thought I’d share my story & info with you. THANKS!

CONFUSED OVER J.LO FLICKS

By Richard Johnson

KEVIN Smith is furious that his upcoming movie, “Jersey Girl,” starring Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, is being confused with the couple’s first collaboration, “Gigli.” On his Web site, the director refutes false reports that he’s spent $3 million reshooting the ending to his movie. A new ending was shot for “Gigli,” which was briefly retitled “Tough Love.” Affleck plays a thug named Gigli who falls for a gorgeous lesbian gangster played by Lopez. Test audiences didn’t like the downbeat denouement, which had Affleck getting killed, but didn’t like the happy Hollywood ending, either. “I assumed (wrongly, I guess) that anyone who really gave a [bleep] knew that it was ‘Gigli’ that had done re-shoots, not ‘Jersey Girl.’ Now I’m seeing this isn’t the case,” Smith wrote. “Jersey Girl” is a romantic comedy in which Affleck copes with a wife and their 6-year-old daughter. Addressing the media, Smith pleaded: “Next time you’re writing a story . . . how about simply picking up a phone and doing a little research?”

The first disc’s material runs 2:07:13, the second is 1:36:38, and with easter eggs of additional exchanges, there are over four hours of material here. As I sat watching, I was completely unaware of the time. I never lost interest; I was chuckling to the end. This DVD is more consistently funny than any comedy film I can recall from the last two years.

Et tu, MSN and BeatBox Betty?

If you can believe it, these two bastions of journalistic integrity have misreported (or flat out lied, depending on how you look at it) about “Jersey Girl” and re-shoots that just don’t exist.

Here’s their story. My comments below…

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Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck – Tough Luck

J. Lo and Ben’s latest vehicle may be a stinker. Plus, Kirsten Dunst becomes political

by BeatBoxBetty

The scoop on the latest, name-changing film from Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck is that in addition to having an identity crisis, it’s just plain bad. Tough Love has had its name changed from Gigli, had its release date pushed back four or five times and had a $5 million rewrite after test audiences were left unimpressed. In fact, the original ending had Ben’s character dying, but since audiences hated that, the studio had to re-shoot a new ending.

A quick review of the plot and it’s easy to see why folks have freezer burn over this puppy. In a nutshell, Ben plays a lowlife thug named Gigli who kidnaps the mentally retarded brother of a federal prosecutor to save his mobster boss from incarceration. Staked-out in his apartment with his kidnapee, Gigli’s soon joined by Ricki (Lopez), a gorgeous lesbian gangster who’s sent in to assist. But as time goes by (and your life force drained from you) — his feelings for Ricki grow, (and she of course, falls for him) and then they become concerned for their prisoner… blah, blah, blah.

Some say the fact that J.Lo and Ben met on set may be the only positive thing to come out of filming, while others claim that too is a sham. I’m betting both go straight to video. But wait, there’s more! Reports are also coming in that Ben and Jen’s romantic chemistry is zero onscreen. Nada. Zippity-doo-dud. According to the National Enquirer, producers of their other new flick Jersey Girl are desperately rewriting love scenes because test audiences don’t get why their characters are even attracted to each other! Price tag for re-shoots? A hefty $3 million. The cost of having Ben and Jen turn up the chemistry meter? Priceless.

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Yeah, use the Enquirer as a source. That’s always smart.

I know it’s only a gossip piece, but gossip or not, I thought I’d state for the record, that we have not re-shot, nor do we have plans to re-shoot, scenes for “Jersey Girl.” Ben and Jen’s chemistry in the flick is the exact opposite of zero. I’m not desperately (or even casually) rewriting dick. Both test audiences seemed to get why the two characters were together quite well. And there’s no $3 million being spent. There – you now have it from a credible source.

I’d heard they were playing that Enquirer game on Stern the other day and this “Jersey Girl” $3 million re-shoot crap came up as a true story. I assumed (wrongly, I guess) that anyone who really gave a shit knew that it was “Gigli” that had done re-shoots, not “Jersey Girl.”

Now I’m seeing this isn’t the case.

In her (or his) haste to attack and damn Ben and Jen’s relationship in any way possible (because it catches the interest of a news-reading public whose attention would be better spent on the war abroad), MSN’s unfortunately named BeatBox Betty has dragged our flick into a spot of mud, alleging problems where there are none. I know she (or he) is only a gossip hound, but I’d ask that, in the future, she (or he) at least try to contact someone involved with a production she (or he) plans to besmirch, rather than lazily take her cues from the likes of a tabloid.

While I’m at it, though, I’d also like to point out that all this “Gigli” stuff is crap too. I’ve seen the flick with a test screening audience, and I haven’t heard laughter like that in a movie theater since “American Pie” (or “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”). And, mind you, the laughter was WITH, not AT, the movie.

Much as I hate to disappoint BeatBox, both movies seem like they’re going to do just fine – quite like Ben and Jen’s relationship.

Regardless, next time you’re writing a story, even if it is for a gossip sheet, how about simply picking up a phone and doing a little research? Just because you’ve been reduced to the lowest rung on the ladder of journalism (manufacturing news where there really isn’t any), it doesn’t mean you have to conduct yourself like an asshole, know-nothing.