A Chubby Kid

Being a big Joe Lovero fan based on his script BOOK OF LEO, I've been trying to get a copy of his short. I had been calling around to get it for awhile and I finally got it from one of the big agencies libraries. I have to say it's really good. Shows a lot of potential. It's very funny and touching. Had a few laugh out loud moments in it. I liked the genetic poker card game with God (Black Jesus who is smoking a spliff) and a lot of the cutaways were just hilarious. There are no "name" actors in it and I think the acting is where it sort of suffers. I'm not sure why he cast the lead guy since he was kind of uncomfortable to look at and his line delivery didn't make me laugh where I think it was supposed to. The lead actress was kind of sit-comy, but she had some good moments. Most of it takes place in a bedroom with the lead actor and lead actress discussing how possibly having a baby might affect him. Those scenes were okay, but the cutaways to the past, present and future that break up the bedroom scenes were priceless. Having gone to Sundance for the past few years I'm shocked this didn't show there. It's way better than a lot of the shorts I've been forced to sit through. At least it had a story, some laughs and a point of view.

I think Lovero is going to have a very solid directing career. I've seen shorts for other directors who made the jump to features and they are nowhere as good as this. I hope Universal has him direct Book Of Leo since they still haven't named a director yet.