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Movies & TV Movies & TV Reviews

Loitering With Intent

LOITERING WITH INTENT (Adam Rapp). 80 minutes. Opens Friday (March 13). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNN

Where to watch: Netflix, iTunes


A shaggy tale of two New York City pals trying to hustle themselves into a movie career, Loitering With Intent is engaging and casually charming without ever being exactly good.

Co-writers Ivan Martin and Michael Godere star as Raphael and Dominic, wannabe actors aging past their prime. (These characters may or may not be autobiographical.) When an old friend (Natasha Lyonne) tells them her boss is looking for a low-budget detective movie, the guys race off to Dominic’s family cabin to bang out a script.

But as soon as they unpack, they’re distracted by women: comely neighbour Ava (Isabelle McNally) and Dominic’s sister Gigi (Marisa Tomei), for whom Raphael has long carried a torch.

Other characters wander in and out of the story, most notably Gigi’s sometime boyfriend Wayne (Sam Rockwell). Old buttons are pushed by people who should know better. And that’s about it.

Adam Rapp‘s casual direction makes the film feel like a playful acting exercise with very low stakes. It’s a welcome shift from the turgid self-seriousness of his 2005 indie Winter Passing, and the entire cast is clearly having fun. I enjoyed watching them work, even as I knew it wouldn’t amount to much.

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