Palo Alto, CA

Watching this it's easy to believe it's an independent film, but I was surprised and impressed to learn it was also a first film for the producer, writer and director. The production values were very high, the casting was spot on, the direction was excellent, the music moved with the story, and the story telling was terrific. Hard to believe that the director couldn't legally drink at the post-production party because he was still under 21.

There are at least four major stories happening at once, each centered around one of four college friends who are back home in Palo Alto for Thanksgiving break. Other sub-plots and side-plots figure in, generally offering more meat than filler.

My only question was how these four guys actually came to be friends. High school tends not to be a very egalitarian environment, and it seemed to me that these four fellows might not have had enough in common in high school to be this close after a little college time.

Still, the individual stories were all true to life, not overly complex (which would have been inappropriate for the age of the characters), and interesting. Living in Palo Alto, part of me wishes the locale could have figured into the stories a tiny bit more, but that's a minor quibble. Not only do I recommend this (more of a guy flick than a chick flick), but I'll definitely watch it again. Well done, you first-timers!