The 11th Annual Waterfront Film Festival – Day Two
That question aside, Women in Trouble is witty, fun, and full of great performances. It’s a series of interconnected stories, mostly focusing on clever dialogue between the various women. In Trouble. Structurally, it made me think of some of Quentin Tarantino’s work, only with actresses playing people instead of fetish props. And while some of the stories involve actual physical jeopardy, it’s mostly just women talking.
Carla Gugino plays a porn star with the fantastic name of “Elektra Luxx”. After learning that she’s pregnant, she ends up trapped in an elevator with Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) who has a dark secret. Two escorts end up running from the mob and run into a psychiatrist who’s leaving her cheating husband. Sex on an airplane goes as badly as possible for a flight attendant. And there’s a little girl who may or may not be a witch, but is definitely hooked on imaginary cigarettes. And all of these stories intersect to one degree or another. It’s pretty great.
According to IMDB, there’s already a sequel in production focusing on Electra Luxx, which makes me ridiculously happy. If you can get past the “hot ladies in underwear” hook, there’s a really enjoyable movie here. (And some of us have less trouble getting past that particular storytelling trope than others.)
I had fairly low expectations for this one, I must admit. The description didn’t grab me, and the poster is sort of terrible. I only signed up for Route 30 because it co-stars Christine Elise (ER). Elise 
helped birth the Waterfront Festival, so I always feel obligated to see her movies. It’s like a public service, really.
helped birth the Waterfront Festival, so I always feel obligated to see her movies. It’s like a public service, really.Surprisingly, the series of vignettes about life in rural Pennsylvania turned out to be a lot of fun. From writer-director John Putch (who’s worked mostly in TV), Route 30 brings us a tour guide obsessed with the one civilian to die at the battles of Gettysburg, amateur porn, the connection between Bigfoot and Christian Science, and Dana Delaney as a drinking, cursing, TV loving Amish woman.
The thing that I really enjoyed about this movie was its broad appeal. It played to a sold-out venue, and everybody loved it. There’s something really special about watching a movie in a crowd and feeling that kind of positive energy. Especially when it’s not a blockbuster or a movie with a giant marketing campaign that’s been focus-group tested. When it’s a big group of people, ranging from industry folks to elderly Midwesterners, and they’re all having a blast watching an oddball comedy, that’s kind of what it’s all about, you know?
I wish I had more to say, but I don’t want to tip off the craziness. I really enjoyed myself, and so did a whole sold-out auditorium. That’s something impressive there.
Of all the movies I saw, this is the one that has the most potential to be a hit. I’ve already heard some mainstream buzz about this low-budget comedy. It made quite a splash at both Sundance and Cannes, and it’s really good.
Ben and Andrew have been best friends since college. Ben and his wife are planning a family, while Andrew has spent years traveling and living it up. (He also looks uncannily like Project Runway’s Santino Rice.) When Andrew swings by for an unexpected visit, things get a little weird. After a strange night, they drunkenly agree to make a porn film. Together. It’s Ben’s drunken contention that two straight men are the last frontier of porn, and if somebody were to do that, it would be a legitimate art project.
Once they sober up, each guy expects the other one to back down. Andrew has to live up to his image of being daring, Ben wants to prove that being married doesn’t mean that he’s gotten boring, and they end up committed to the project. It’s actually a really impressive feat of writing and acting that it seems rational that these guys are willing to go to such lengths not to be the one who wimps out.
The cast is made up of unknowns, though Andrew is one of the kids from The Blair Witch Project. (Remember when people were really into that movie? We were so young…) I especially enjoyed Alycia Delmore as Anna, Ben’s wife. She really grounds the story with her realistic and believable reactions. You know how you’d react to finding out your husband wants to have sex with his best friend and film it? Not well, that’s how. Her scenes are some of the best in the movie. This is only her second acting credit, which is really astounding.
The third act, set in the hotel room where Ben and Andrew plan to get down to business, is an absolute masterpiece of awkward hilarity. They desperately attempt to get comfortable with one another (“Maybe we should hug with our shirts off.”) and work out the mechanics of the act. There’s an easy intimacy between the two, but that kind of thing only extends so far. And there really is actual suspense as to whether or not they’ll go through with it.
With an ambiguous ending that’s either really sad or very funny, Humpday is really impressive. Despite the premise, it doesn’t drift into making fun of homosexuality – it’s character-based humor all the way through. EJ approves.
In the interest of accuracy, I have to say this before dispensing with my review. Reclusive, misanthropic author falls for a hot single mom and gradually learns how to be a human being again. Yes, The Answer Man has the exact same plot as As Good as it Gets. That’s sort of the elephant in the room here. But then, Tim Burton has made a slew of movies where a heroic outcast fights a charismatic villain atop a church, to save the very society that rejected him. So, you know, I can’t really get too upset.
Jeff Daniels plays the aforementioned misanthrope, Arlen Farber. 20 years ago, he wrote a spiritual guide called Me and God which, we’re told, changed the way America looked at spirituality. (There’s a series of great jokes about the publisher’s spinoffs, like The Me and God Diet and Me and God for Atheists.) Farber doesn’t feel connected to what he wrote, and so avoids publicity and stays home reading anything inspirational or religious, trying to find answers of his own. He refuses to even write a new introduction for the 20th Anniversary Edition of his book, which means his agent isn’t exactly eager to help him when his back gives out and he can’t walk.This brings him crawling to the nearest massage therapist available, Elizabeth. Elizabeth is played by Lauren Graham, so I can’t even really be objective here. Neither can Arlen, who’s immediately smitten and starts trying to be a normal person who’s capable of feelings and stuff. Then there’s an interesting subplot about a bookstore owner (Lou Taylor Pucci) who’s freshly out of rehab, fighting bankruptcy, and searching for answers.
The appealing cast (including Tony Hale of Arrested Development in a small role) are enough to make this a winner all on their own. The script is both funny and honest, and surprisingly, has some really interesting things to say about spirituality. That’s not something we see in movies anymore, especially not in comedies. And despite the resemblances to that Jack Nicholson movie, it’s still engaging and entertaining. And yes, I would have liked it even without Lauren Graham. But she helped.
I closed out the Festival with this fun documentary about Dennis Lambert. Lambert is the songwriter/producer of hits like “Rhinestone Cowboy”, “Baby Come Back”, “We Built this City”, and many, many others. Other than the Beatles, he’s the only person ever to have four songs on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart simultaneously. These days, he sells luxury condos in Florida.
In 1972, Dennis released a solo album that flopped, and he went back to songwriting instead of 
performing. Only his album was a monster hit in the Philippines, and concert promoters have tried to bring him there for decades. In 2007, Dennis finally agreed. Of All the Things is the story of his tour.
performing. Only his album was a monster hit in the Philippines, and concert promoters have tried to bring him there for decades. In 2007, Dennis finally agreed. Of All the Things is the story of his tour.Directed by Lambert’s son, Jody, this is a sweet, occasionally hilarious look at a guy who’s discovering fame he didn’t even know he had. Basically, Lambert’s a loveable, good-natured dork. He used to play the Catskills as a kid, but he spent most of his career as a writer and producer. Between returning to performing and being in a foreign country, Dennis is really out of his element.
There are some Spinal Tap moments, where Dennis has difficulty with the 24-track recorder, including a hysterical scene at a concert where the tech guys cue up “We Built this City” over and over and over again. And then there’s Dennis trying desperately to spell the names of his overseas fans when signing autographs. It’s good stuff.
It’s definitely light, which makes sense, since it’s really a guy making a movie about his Dad. Dennis is interesting – he’s written giant hits in just about every genre, which is not something that people do these days. And yet, he’s really grounded and sweet and normal. And in the concert footage, you sort of get an idea of just why he’s so big in the Philippines. It was a fun movie, and a great way to end my time at the Festival this year.
Big thanks to everybody involved with the Waterfront Film Festival, who put on a great event every year. I don’t know how they keep getting better every year, but they do. If you live anywhere in the area or you can afford the trip from afar, you owe it to yourself to come down next year. If you even like movies a little bit, they’ll have something for you there.
