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.