Satin

This indie dramady delivers a good time and may make you want to buy an old convertible, hit the road and drive out to Vegas. The cast is really great, lots of dry off beat humor and toward the end it pulls at the heartstrings. Beautiful music: Americana down and out blues, rock, swing, jazz and a very memorable 80's retro classic. Unique to this movie is a crazy looking music contraption called "The Circle," -- a must see.

The Jack Satin character is a cocky, full-of-him-self, Vegas lounge singer who was raised by a showgirl. His first big break was shining Wayne Newton's shoes and his career has gone down hill from there. He's funny in a lovable loser kind of way, could be a breakout performance by newcomer Hamilton von Watts.

There are lots of surprises in Satin. Robert Guillaume (Benson) plays a music guru mechanic, steals a lot of scenes with his iconic voice and sharp comic timing. Melissa Joan Hart plays a sweet yet strong bartender who as expected falls for Satin. Though she's her usual cute and funny self, I really liked her in this more mature role. And for you Southland fans, Michael Cudlitz gets to play a truly hilarious leather vest wearing Bronco driving closet karaoke star. There's a song he sings that had me rolling on the floor with laughter.

Satin strikes as careful balance between comedy and drama that makes it very entertaining and by the end poetic and soulful. One of the coolest movies I've seen this year - Little Miss Sunshine meets The Hangover combined with the Flight of the Conchords version of Crazy Heart. So glad I discovered this movie.