Small Town Saturday Night (2010)

This film tells the story of the residents in a small town, and what they are up to on a certain Saturday afternoon. The day is eventful, and people are all geared up for a big Saturday night.The story revolves mainly about the sheriff, a criminal, an insecure young man and a aspiring country singer. Their life story is told engagingly, and I feel very much for the poor young man who has an overbearing mother. I applaud his courage to do what he does at the end of the film. It is quite surprising to me that a small independent film can have both Chris Pine and Octavia Spencer in it, I don't quite know how the producers get such great talent to star in an independent film like this. Overall, the film is a little plain to me, but I say plain not in a bad way, as the film seems a reasonable portrayal about life in a sleepy small town.

Rhett Ryan (Chris Pine) is a car mechanic with Nashville dreams. He is about to move there with his girlfriend (Bre Blair). Only she has second thoughts. She is still tie to police officer Carson (Shawn Christian), the father to her daughter. Meanwhile there are all kinds of characters in this small town of Prospect.This is a slow moving indie for the first half. There are a few too many characters in their mundane lives. It's a boring slog through a lot of nothing scenes. The direction isn't the most exciting. It does improve with the bank robbery.Director/writer Ryan Craig needs to move the plot along quicker. And for a movie about a country singing mechanic, he waited until the end to let Chris Pine sing. He's actually not that bad (unless he was dubbed). I don't understand why he doesn't sing early in the movie. Anything would improve the first half.

Very enjoyable film. The self-sense of foregone conclusion as to how the character's lives will unfold hangs on them like the sweaty body odor you can almost smell. These people are trapped in their littleness and can't seem to find their way out. They cling to each other like shipwreck victims clawing each other to stay afloat. ON THE OTHER HAND, the sense of community, forgiveness and acceptance of each other warms my heart living as I do in plastic image land, aka, southern California. The movie is not a downer and has a lot of upbeats, even a laugh or two. All the acting was well done; the characters all had balance, which is probably also a solid credit to the directing and editing. You won't say "wow" but you will say "that was time well spent" after watching it OR at least say "my life sucks way less than theirs".

'SMALL TOWN Saturday NIGHT': Three Stars (Out of Five) Chris Pine (of 'STAR TREK' and 'UNSTOPPABLE' fame) headlines this ensemble piece indie character drama. The film also features performances by Shawn Christian, John Hawkes (who also turned in an impressive performance in this year's 'WINTER'S BONE'), and Bre Blair. It's written and directed by TV director Ryan Craig, who also plays a part in the film. Pine not only acts in the film but also wrote the song 'Someday Came Today' for the movie (and sings).Pine plays Rhett Ryan, a small time country singer / songwriter with dreams of making it in Nashville. Just days before he's supposed to leave the small town of Prospect to follow his dreams his girlfriend (Blair) tells him she's not going with him and has decided that what's best for her daughter might be to stay with her father, Tommy Carson (Christian), the town sheriff. Tommy's brother Donnie (Hawkes) just got out of prison and has came back into town getting himself in more trouble again.The film is well made and the characters are all pretty believable and their drama realistic. The acting is all impressive, especially Pine and Hawkes, and the directing is adequate. The film isn't extremely entertaining or memorable and although the characters are believable it's not especially emotionally involving either but it's not a bad way to pass the time in my opinion. There's definitely nothing in it to really complain about. It's a nice little movie.Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN5KZOE7p28