Small Time (2014)

Al Klein (Christopher Meloni) owns an used car lot. Ash Martini (Dean Norris) is his second-in-command, Barlow (Amaury Nolasco) is the mechanic, and Gail (Ashley Jensen) is the new secretary with many excuses to go home early. Al misses his son Freddy (Devon Bostick)'s graduation but his ex-wife Barbara (Bridget Moynahan) and Chick (Xander Berkeley) don't know it. Freddy decides to forget about college and join him as a car salesman.Writer/director Joel Surnow has made a couple of successful TV shows but none of his successes are in comedies. This is not going to break that streak. There are some fun sales techniques. The family drama is anchored by some good actors but it doesn't work. In the end, this struggles to gain any traction.

I just finished watching this film and to be honest, the poster and the title wasn't really too catchy for me, but I gave it a chance because Dean Norris (Better known as DEA Agent Hank Schrader for you Breaking Bad fans out there.) was cast as one of the lead actors in the film, alongside Christopher Meloni (Det. Elliot Stabler from the TV Series, Law and Order) and Devon Bostick (Rodrick Heffley from Diary Of A Wimpy Kid). Special mention to Amaury Nolasco (Orange Julius from 2 Fast 2 Furious), Xander Berkley (Henry Hurt from Apollo 13) and Bridget Moynahan (Helen from John Wick). The story basically revolves around a divorced co-owner of a used car lot whose son decides to skip College to come work for him on the car lot as a salesman despite the adamant resistance of his mother. The film is set in a time when smart phones didn't exist and having a cordless phone with the pull out antenna was considered a luxury, when . As expected, Dean Norris played his role quite exceptionally alongside his other co-stars, there was good chemistry between the the two lead salesmen especially in the scenes where they work in tandem to close a sale, I would have probably bought a used car from them. Personally, the camera angles employed were fairly simple but were maximized to good effect and weren't overly done. The film had a very natural feel to it in terms of lighting and warmth. Overall, I think it was very well made. The film is about 1 hour and 30 minutes long which is perfect for me given the flow of the story, it wasn't too short so it didn't feel rushed and it wasn't too long for the depth of story where it just becomes dragging.I could personally relate to this film being in the field of sales as well (I'm a Financial Adviser for a Life Insurance company, part of our role is to sell our products.) so I was able to put myself in their shoes somehow, especially during the scenes that wherein the actors were making sales or attempting to make sales. Of course, the style of sales employed in the film is different from the life insurance industry (tangible product vs intangible product), it's still something that can be related to, specifically the scenes wherein the salesmen were rejected and the elated feeling they had when they made a sale. I especially like this scene wherein Freddy (Devon Bostick) and his father Al (Christopher Meloni) were at home and Freddy was telling his dad how amazed he was by how well they (Al and Ash (Dean Norris) spoke and made sales, he referred to them as "geniuses" and Al simply told him "Trust me, we're not. We're hungry. We close deals or we don't eat." which is similar to something a good friend of mine told me when he was starting out in the Life Insurance industry and he's now gone on to be one of the very best Financial Advisers in the field today. Another part of the film that I liked was again, another conversation between father and son, they were talking about life and how it can be complicated, it's something that made me smile and feel understood, hearing the lines "Sometimes it's really shitty. Sometimes it's miraculous". This movie is by no means a father and son tearjerker film but it is a feel good movie that's rolled into a partially serious and partially witty and humorous package that will leave you with some lessons about life and a few quotable quotes.Whether you're a salesman or just a man (or woman) looking for an enjoyable film, I'd recommend the film, Small Time.Thanks for reading!To see my other reviews, feel free to check out tomhuang03.blogspot.com

In the opening scene of 2014's Small Time, Christopher Meloni's character (Al Klein) and the Dean Norris character (Ash Martini), blackmail a smart aleck teenager into buying a rundown BMW. What an interesting sales technique. And what a hokey, dumb, and conventional farce this flick turned out to be. Note to Meloni: You were so brilliant on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Why would you retire from that show to somehow find your way into a something like this? And note to Bridget Moynahan: Are you that desperate in Hollywood that you would subject yourself to playing a clichéd, lonely divorcée via the felonious downgrade that is Small Time? These are some of the questions I pondered while viewing what I like to think of as a sleazy, used car salesmen character study putting first time director Joel Sumow completely in over his head. Granted, there have been a lot of bad movies to come out this year. Small Time just managed to crack my top five.Released in the U.S. in April and having its only DVD premiere in the country of Sweden (how random is that), this misguided, coming of age dreck veers toward TV sitcom territory. What's on screen gives used car salesmen a bad name as it chronicles the father/son relationship between Al Klein (Meloni) and 18 year-old high school graduate, Freddy Klein (Devon Bostick, who appears as a deadpan Jimmy Fallon look-alike here). Al, along with his douchbag assistant (Norris), sell cars by way of being a deceptive jack-ass. His boy, fresh out of high school, decides to forgo his mother's aspirations of college and work in his father's low key operation (the film also sites his lack for wanting to be in a fraternity as a reason for this decision). Freddy reluctantly resents his mother's current husband (Xander Berkeley as Chick) and wants to succeed in the real world as opposed to getting a false education (as he puts it). He then moves in with his father putting a strain on the ex- husband/ex-wife relationship (all the while creating a cocky air in his personality forcing said dad to fire him). Bostick's character has ways of making more money for his father, is high on selling cars, but has an attitude with the customers and believes that quote unquote, "people are shite". That puts Al in a precarious position. He eventually buys into the idea of Freddy instead living the life of a college student by hoping he'll eventually attend any California school (within the Southern region). To say that this film is manipulated by its paint-by- numbers script is an understatement. I wanted to slap the actors across the face and tell them to wait for a better project later on in the year.Fubar plot and rote characters aside, the thing that I wondered most about Small Time is this: When the heck does this movie takes place? Throughout its running time, the audience deals with a 1970's musical soundtrack along with every character dressing like they're living in the 90's (that goes for the hairstyles as well). And the automobiles on the used car lot channel a mix of different decades (I think I saw a 1989 Cavalier). But hey, at least the phone concept is consistent (everyone talks on a pay phone and/or landline, not a cell phone). In truth, this is just another stupid independent film (there are so many of them) that tries to be cool, tries to be cute, but just completely flaps in the wind. It's not the actors/actresses that's the problem, just the concept. Hypocrisy is a dainty word (what with the Meloni character telling his son it's okay to force a customer into buying a crap car only to state that his methods are not appropriate). Too bad this thing seems to hammer that notion to levels of utmost absurdity.All in all, Small Time is undoubtedly a movie with a "small" brain. Here's hoping the people in Sweden felt the exact same way when it ventured into their neck of the woods.Of note: With Small Time, look for one of the most undeveloped roles in screen history. Garcelle Beauvais plays Meloni's character's girlfriend and it's thankless beyond comprehension. I felt sorry for her in threefold fashion. Oh, and just for the record, the director of this formulaic romp was the producer of the hit series, 24. I'm surprised that he didn't feel compelled to forcefully remove his name from this project.

I love films that are about people as opposed to films where there is a lot of action. So, while the public often flocks to blockbusters with huge budgets and explosions, I am often more happy seeing a much quieter style of film—one where the characters are the center of the film. This doesn't make me right or wrong—it's just the sorts of films I usually prefer. For example, after seeing the most recent Oscar-nominees for Best Picture, one of my very favorites was "Nebraska" and I much preferred it to most of the action-packed and star-studded films running against it. Because of my tastes in films, Small Time is pretty much exactly the sort of movie for me—and it may just be that way for you if you're looking for an interesting story about seemingly normal folks.Christopher Meloni (of "Law & Order SVU" and "True Blood" fame) stars as Al Klein—a divorced used car salesman whose ethics are extremely limited to say the least! He and his partner, Ash (Dean Norris), will say almost anything to close a sale and they are good at what they do. A big surprise comes to Al, however, when his son, Freddy (Devon Bostick), graduates. Instead of going off to college at Cal Poly (one of the top schools in the country), Freddy announces that he wants to move in with dad and go to work with him selling cars. At first this seems wonderful —father and son together and doing what Al loves most. But, as time passes, the awkward son starts to become more and more like his dad—and perhaps even better when it comes to selling cars. This change in Freddy causes an emotional crisis for Al. Does he really want the kid to be a chip off the old block?!This is a wonderful character-driven story. Through the course of the film, Meloni's character grows—but not in a way that is unrealistic or contrived. And, most importantly, it is not a HUGE change—but a reasonable change. Meloni and the rest of the cast are great—and Meloni proves he's not just good on television but as a movie actor as well. I loved Bostick's performance almost as much as Meloni's and there were also a lot of nice supporting characters that give the film wonderful depth and humor (the opening scene with the young car thief is amazingly clever and made me smile). While this isn't a comedy exactly, some parts are funny and some of it is quite poignant. This film should be a huge boost to the career of Joel Surnow. While Surnow has written a quite a few scripts before this (mostly for TV—such as "24" and the amazingly overlooked "Nowhere Man") and has a few producer credits, here he also gets a chance to direct as well as write the story—and he did a great job with both. This film would make an excellent date night. Women seem to really like Meloni and the film has a lot for the guys as well. Intelligent and well worth your time.