Telling You (1998)

Two unmotivated college graduates, Phil Fazzulo (Peter Facinelli) and Dennis Nolan (Dash Mihok), settle for menial jobs at Sal Lombardo's pizza parlour. When the week's takings are stolen while Dennis is in charge, the pair enlist the help of their friends to throw a party to try and raise the missing sum of money.For Love Sucks (AKA Telling You) writer director Rob DeFranco has taken his cues from the films of Kevin Smith (most notably, Clerks), with just a little Tarantino for good measure (the delivery of the opening 'dogshit' diatribe seemingly modelled after one of Quentin's meandering monologues). But where Smith and Tarantino have the ability to load their films with interesting individuals and sparkling dialogue, DeFranco fills this extremely dull drama with thoroughly irritating people indulging in unengaging conversation. Even the usually affable Matthew Lillard and Jennifer Love Hewitt prove totally obnoxious on this occasion.Although labelled as a teen comedy, Love Sucks gave me nothing to laugh about. It was quite the painful experience. 1/10

Films are like fires, they start with a spark, warm up and build up the heat or they splutter out and die. This film is somewhere in between; there is a fire burning but it is just that someone comes along once in a while and throws cold water on it. To begin, the film is not really a comedy, it is a serious drama with light-hearted moments. Without the lighter moments you fear the story would be too heavy. What it really comes down to is whether you can empathise with the perfectly cast Dash Mihok as Dennis Nolan. If you've ever found yourself alone out in the yard at night wondering where life went wrong you will click in with Dennis and enjoy the story. So often Mihok manages to convey his pain and confusion without words, so you either understand him or you don't. The film so neatly sets out his problems and then neatly provides the answers. But like all films, there are the scenes we would like removed; the opening monologue by Peter Facinelli is painful and Jennifer Love Hewitt grossly over acts her minor part. The worst is a scene in a club where glamorous females sit alone at tables awaiting for any male to come up and sort out their life. This scene should be put back in the Male Fantasy file where it belongs, but apart from that it offers an original story and some brilliant acting (especially Jennifer Jostyn) though Facinelli's character is too shallow to show his great ability. I might add the original title 'Telling You' is perfect; I cannot believe that anyone who saw it would name it 'Love Sucks as it is marketed in the UK.

Telling You (1999) Peter Facinelli, Dash Mihok, Gary Wolf, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Matthew Lillard, Gina Phillips, Jennifer Jostyn, Frank Medrano, D: Robert DeFranco. Two brother-like buddies (Facinelli, Mihok) get hard luck running the local pizzeria in this teen-comedy. Not even a good-looking cast can salvage this turkey from being worthless, boring, and plain as the nose on your face. Running Time: 94 minutes and rated R for language and brief sexual content. * ½

This movie is a pathetic waste of time, with a pathetic script, following pathetic characters. The two main characters are recent college graduates who ... are working in a pizza shop? If there was a plot here I didn't see it...basically a bunch of burnouts bumbling through life without a plan. If you're going to see a guilty pleasure high school movie, rent She's all That or Can't Hardly Wait (which, ironically, feature large portions of the cast from this movie). Those are much better done than this drivel.