Review by gradyharp

James Vásquez wrote and stars in what seems to be an autobiographical musing on the life of a plain, conflicted, wannabe actor who is trying to cope with his unsuccessful social life as he approaches his 29th birthday. Presented as a movie within a movie, Vásquez speaks as James Sanchez directly to the audience, sharing his background, his parents (Annie Hinton and James Synjyn) who progress from shock at his outing to overindulgent to the point of intrusion, and his best friends - the wacky Roxy (Nicole Marcks) and circuit guy Brandon (David McBean). The general idea is how to make the almost closeted James into a happily paired man and how his friends and family go about making his happen is written with a lot of snappy dialogue and with the introduction of some really fine character actors - Kali Rocha as an hilarious HIV Nurse and Mike Doyle as the super hunk coffee house waiter who is to become James' payoff! Directed by Carrie Preston the film moves along with a fast clip despite the elected technique of 'instant replay' used to define James' illusions from his reality. The production values of this low budget film are modest to say the least, but the premise of showing the life of a gay man who is not on the top of his life is worth watching. And there are some very good performances by newcomers who seem to have a future. Grady Harp