Little Athens (2005)

Good concept, poorly executed.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Blistering performances.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Tom Zuber has great credentials in Law but seems to prefer to dabble in the territory of cinema. Having not seen his debut film LANSDOWN (2001) it is difficult to judge from LITTLE ATHENS (2005) if he is improving with age, but looking at LITTLE ATHENS on its own merits it seems a bit sparse in idea and in production.Athens, Arizona is the bleak setting of this day in the lives of some fairly bored (and boring) youngsters, ne're-do-wells attempting to infuse sparkle into an otherwise glitterless place. Zuber creates four story lines, spottily interweaves them, and finally connects the dots in the last reel. The main problem is that comedy is funny because we care about the facilitators and here there really aren't any folks in which to invest. The cast tries hard and succeeds in giving us a taste of life in the flatlands of nothingville. D.J. Qualls (a character type who is very good, as in 'Hustle and Flow'), Michael Pena, John Patrick Amedori, Shawn Hatosi, Tory Kittles, Eric Szmanda, Jorge Garcia, Erica Leerhsen, and Michelle Horn are particularly fine and do their best with the material they are given.Tom Zuber has a style, a sense of non-scripted spontaneity incorporating the gross with the sadsack, and given time he may make a fine little film. This one just misses. Grady Harp

Not the worst indie film I've ever seen.And it does have it's moments of being funny.Rachel Miner was DECENT as the best friend of Erika leerhsen's character where she's cheating with her cop boyfriend cause she's willing to give him anal sex that he so craves. Then you've got Jorge Garcia who is awesome on Lost but in this film just seem wasted as a character.It was stupid the way he'd speak Spanish words mixed in with mostly English.It's like he's trying to say "I'm Mexican though i look like a fat white dude."And, once again DJ Qualls gives a decent quirky character performance & once again shows why he's one of the truly ugliest actors I've ever seen. Is reminiscent of the party scene in Dazed & Confused but that film is wayyy better. Too dark in parts to see much of what's going on, i feel this film would've been better had they had less characters. ** out of *****

Saw this movie tonight as part of the Indianapolis International Film Festival. Had been looking forward to this one, largely due to the cast and the fact that these types of stories usually are told more realistically by independent filmmakers.Unfortunately, I found the acting to be almost embarrassingly bad, the characters had no depth and no redeeming qualities, and the running time of 109 minutes felt more like 3 hours. I kept waiting for something to happen, and waiting and waiting.Now, there are 2 positives this film has going for it. The soundtrack is actually quite good, and includes songs by SuperTramp, Radiohead, Ima Robot, The Vacation and The Walkmen just to name a few.The cast is definitely attractive and there are some new faces that definitely show some promise. I was surprised to see Shawn Hatosy (The Faculty) in yet another throwaway role. After The Faculty, I actually thought he would become one of the major young Hollywood players, but he keeps turning up in films that in my opinion are a waste of his talents.I really wanted to like this film and then tell everyone I knew to go see it, but now all I can say is save your money and use that 109 minutes to do something else....you will never get them back.Just a side note: There were about 50 people of mixed ages in the audience. Two separate couple got up and left within the first 10 minutes, I have no idea if it was the film or something else. The person that I went with, actually enjoyed the movie quite a bit, so it may just that it didn't appeal to me. Unlike other films during the festival, there was no applause after the film and only a handful of attendees stayed for the credits.

I have to start by saying it took me a solid hour to figure out that Athens is the town the movie takes place in. That being said, this movie's got big intentions and they are realized. I saw it with a great crowd, so the mood was cool. I won't ruin it, but the scene where the Jimmy character steals drugs from his dealer is classic. Really really good, and the female characters are super real which is something I don't think most movies have. My friends and I talked about the movie for an hour afterward. The guys are great, especially Michale Pena and John Patrick Amedori. Eric Szmanda has some very funny scenes as well which is great after seeing him in the same role every week on CSI. I loved the way the movie looks.