I caught this independent film a couple months ago at the Rhode Island Film Festival (where Cacho-Negrete won first prize for best first-time director, by the way). The story focuses on Clarke's character, who was so young when he finished college that he never really, well, got the entire college experience. Now he is a high school teacher between school years. His collegiate buddies, with whom he ends up spending the summer in the Liars Club bar on the North Side, have all kinds of talents and encourage him to cast a wider net, in spite of his long-standing affection for Johnson. Let us just say that Clarke comes of age in Chicago that summer, in more ways than one.
Tip of the cap to Shaw and Marley, both of whom wonderfully portray the kind of guys everybody knew in college. "Kevin" almost steals the show as a convincing Bostonian, and there are a few obscure Red Sox references in there, you might want to watch your tapes of the 1986 World Series to get the lines. Donavan and McDermott are that couple we all recognized as oblivious to the rest of the world, and despised for their happiness. Pay attention to the dialogue, especially in the restaurant early on.
Now, I don't work at a movie theater, and I wouldn't know a Morphing Power Ranger if I saw one, no matter how mighty, and I am certain that I could resist. Honest opinion: good flick, and I look forward to Cacho-Negrete's (what kind of name is that?) next one. Good to have seen this talent at the ground floor.
