Angels in Stardust

I really enjoyed Angels In Stardust. Though the title may sound like it could be a religious film, it is not. It is a coming of age film that includes suspense, intrigue and seemingly impossible dreams. The setting, a town built on an abandoned drive-in movie theater parking lot call Tardust (Stardust with the "S" missing), had me chuckling from the beginning. After the first 20 minutes of character development, the film really opens up. Alicia Silverstone (Tammy) is brilliant in her performance as a white trash mother raising children in a run-down trailer park community. In my opinion, it is her best performance ever in film. She had me crying in a number of emotionally moving scenes. Other times I was feeling shocked at how she treated her children and at her desperate attempts to improve her life. Billy Burk is amazing at fulfilling the roll of the wise Cowboy and AJ Michalka (Valley Sue) is perfect in her role as Tammy's responsible teenage daughter with dreams to be a writer. I was intrigued by the story and how Valley Sue's life weaves between fantasy and reality and at times, I was not sure where she was. The film is a blend of drama, comedy, mystical (or metaphysical) and personal challenge. It contrasts the harsh reality of their poor socioeconomic life with the hope created by the fantasy of dreams.

"Anything's possible in Tardust." Vallie Sue (Michalka) is a small town girl with normal problems like everyone else. Her mother Tammy (Silverstone) regularly leaves her and her brother alone while she tries to find a new husband. Her brother hangs around an Indian who everyone says is dangerous. She has a few friends but her best friend is an imaginary cowboy who lives on the old drive-in screen in the town she lives in. In the middle of all this Valley does all she can to find herself and break free of the town to follow her own dreams. Going into this I was expecting a religious themed movie. If you are thinking that as well you will be disappointed. While there is a few moments of that this is not a religious movie at all. That said the movie is good and entertaining and I did end up liking it but it is not a happy movie. The only real complaint I have with this is that they had too many stories going on at once and not all of them got resolved. Not just minor ones but major ideas that get you interested but leave you hanging. When you watch you will see what I mean. Other then that though the movie is worth seeing. Overall, bittersweet and worth checking out but too many story lines are left open and it left the movie feeling unfinished. I give this a B.

A creative & smart 16 year-old girl (AJ Michalka) comes-of-age while living in a trailer park built on the site of a defunct drive-in movie theater in Central/West Texas. She finds solace in her (imaginary?) relationship with a mystical cowboy (Billy Burke) while dealing with the challenges of her man-hungry single mother (Alicia Silverstone) and her troubled little brother, who has an affinity for a Native neighbor, Tenkill (Michael Spears).

Released in 2014, this was director William Robert Carey's first-and-only film based on his 2013 novel "Jesus in Cowboy Boots," which was the movie's original title. It's an offbeat, mundane and gritty drama with one fantasy component; it's definitely not a comedy as advertised elsewhere.

Similar quirky films that come to mind include "Michael" (1996), "Dreamland" (2006), "Don't Come Knocking" (2005), "Mud" (2012) and "Joe" (2013). It has the fantasy element of "Michael," the trailer-in-the-desert setting of "Dreamland" and the ugly redneck drama of the other three, as well as the indie artiness of "Don't Come Knocking." It lacks the great amusement and positivity of "Michael," but it's arguably on par with the others, just different.

Silverstone was a hot item in the mid/late 90s and early 2000s, but she has since sorta faded away. The last movie I remember her in was from a decade earlier, "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed" (2004). Here she was 37 during shooting playing a 31 year-old woman (who looks older) desperate to settle down with a man before she's over-the-hill. She had a couple of kids during those ten years and so put on a little noticeable weight; yet she's still a stunning babe, just with more "mileage," as it's put in the movie.

The film runs 1 hour, 39 minutes and was shot in Agua Dulce & Santa Clarita, California.

GRADE: B-/C+