Stevie D

As indies go, this IS AN INDIE for sure. By that I mean it is easy to see that there were budget constraints and maybe more time could have been spent editing in some spots. But overall, this film hits the mark, tells a good story with likable, well written characters brought to life by a solid ensemble cast.

At the opening of the film, I was concerned that I was going to be subjected to 2 hrs of a predictable, mafia-trope-laden tale of caricature bad guys from the East Coast doing and saying "down and dirty" East Coast things (in LA). While there were elements of this (strip clubs, the uber-machismo of the film's antagonist and his legion of sycophantic followers) the story quickly settled into an engaging and charming ride for the audience.

In the end, this is a wonderful film. Chris Cordone scores the proverbial hat trick - It is well written, directed and acted with ALL the characters from main cast to supporting players to the bit parts so well developed and ALL contributing to the story. A fun tale that I characterize as: "Prince & The Pauper meets the confluence of RomCom, Mafia, ActorLife & Noir"

Chris Cordone does a great job here, playing two entirely different characters who just happen to look alike. And he wrote and directed the movie too, so this just adds to how great his work is. It's kind of a silly formula but it works for me, and everything he has done is worthwhile.

Here's the real proof of how much I enjoyed the movie: as I would look to see how much time was left, the end of the movie was in sight and I didn't want it to be over.

And yet something happened that made the ending kind of a disappointment, so I no longer felt the way I had felt. But that's okay because things got better.

I recognized Hal Linden, who I knew so well as Barney Miller. I've thought I saw him before, but this time it was really him. And he's still got it. As of whenever this movie was made.

And there were plenty of other good performances from leading actors. Let's not forget the hit men, who seem a little threatening but can't seem to do anything right.

And we do get to see Lenny act in a real movie. He's actually good!

The music was great. Mostly jazz, and I don't mean smooth jazz.

Is this family friendly? Not really. There are the scenes in the strip club, and in the version I saw the sound goes out a lot while the mouth of the character speaking is blurry. But I get the impression a lot of words were left out that would be fine on broadcast TV.

This was a very funny movie.

A watchable vanity project for the writer, director, lead actor but whether it leads to anything more substantial is highly debatable, since the characters were mostly cliches, the situations were full of 'just happens to' moments, like a commercial actor on tv just happens to look exactly like a spoiled trust fund kid who just happens to be in an unfortunate accident, and the actor just happens to be paired with a gangster type gumba who just happens to want to be an actor so they can have a bond that becomes a plot point... on and on. His skill at playing two diametrically opposed characters that he himself created should have been more pronounced, but he cant get beyond the one dimensional limitations he wrote for them. An EXTREMELY nice, thoughtful, helpful, caring guy who seriously, not sarcastically, uses a word like 'lovely' when speaking to a women vs an EXTREMELY obnoxious, narcissistic spoiled brat who belittles everyone around him and tows bikini babes around like they are his pets. That being said, he is watchable and likable as the nice guy and is assured some nice lifetime movie channel (is that still on?) cheesy romantic comedies in the near future.

I really enjoyed this film. The relationships are all really thoughtful, even the hit men have loads of personality and a natural and funny rhythm with their banter. They provide a lot of genuine comic relief, and they are almost like watching a funny old married couple. I also really enjoyed the connection between Michael (the fake Stevie) and Lenny (played by the fabulous Kevin Chapman). It was fun to watch Lenny go from thinking "we're doing this poor sap a favor" if the fake Stevie (Michael) gets bumped off in their ruse...to actually putting a guard on him because he wants to protect him from getting hurt. Could it have been edited a little tighter? Sure! But given that it's a low budget film, and I've seen so many of those, I think Chris Cordone did a lovely job, and it's obvious he squeezed every bit of substance out of that budget that he could...especially with all the great casting. I loved seeing John Aprea do his thing, better than anyone else. Such a natural. And I also really enjoyed seeing the great Hal Linden! He is a treasure. Torrey DeVito is beautiful and does a nice turn as Daria. Even the characters that have less than 5 minutes of screen time make the most of what they've got and bring something engaging to the film. I think it's a refreshing and fun film, in a sea of remakes and big budget boring movies. I like movies with characters I can actually care about it...and Steve D. delivers.

This movie just autoplsyed on YouTube while I was writing a letter, and I was extremely surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Some great actors in supporting roles and a real beauty as a bonus, in a movie that although predictable was nonetheless entertaining.

My only issue was the sound; in a few scenes it sounded like one actor was on a speakerphone while the other sounded fine.

Ignore the haters, it's a fun watch.