DYLAN KIDD

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBB.5. 

USA, 2002.  Holedigger Films, Roger Dodger LLC.  Screenplay by Dylan Kidd.  Cinematography by Joaquin Baca-Asay.  Produced by Anne Chaisson, Dylan Kidd, George VanBuskirk.  Music by Craig Wedren.  Production Design by Stephen Beatrice.  Costume Design by Amy Westcott.  Film Editing by Andy Keir.  

Campbell Scott plays a heartless business executive who gets a bit of a surprise when his teen nephew (Jesse Eisenberg) shows up at his Manhattan office and asks to stay with him for the weekend. Thinking his uncle a total success as a ladies’ man, the young boy asks Scott to help him in the romance department. This leads to a night out in Manhattan bars looking for easy scores; through conversations with strangers and with each other, the two realize just how much the elder still has to learn about life and love and how much more the younger knew than he realized. Pristine acting and heartfelt characters keep this interesting character study from ever become annoying or self-indulgently bitter. Jennifer Beals and Elizabeth Berkley have the film’s best sequence as two women who meet the boys in a bar and actually become intrigued in getting to know them.

Toronto International Film Festival:  2002