Stevie D

I find that we all grow up hearing our parents tell us that this or that is not acting, that in their day sew-n-sew was X and he did Z

This movie...seems to be an actual representation of that view. Sure when you see a movie that is a lower budget you will find that 1 lone guy usually is the movies only draw, that he/she carries it. It reminds me of how many BAD MOVIES were bearable, to me at least, if Luke Goss played the main roll.

This is NOT one of those films.

In the movie, hand to heart, everyone UNDER 40 sucked per acting and delivery and everyone OVER 50 owned each specific role. I have to ponder a reality where geriatric actors are able to "own" a role, even if it is a bit part with 30 seconds of screen time, yet the lead actor and the co-lead struggle to deliver ANYTHING that can be compared to genuine.

I assume it is simple experience....except I can hardly, for the life of me, think of an actor that was BAD in his late 20's and early 30's, that morphed into a PARAGON OF ACTING SKILL !

So, either you have it or you don't. Bad writing can only cover so many of the excuses before it falls onto the actors.

There ARE some WELL acted scenes in this movie....but NONE of them relate to anyone who is not of Social Security.

The rating, at the time of this writing, is a LOADED and FIXED 8.5. I assume a "family and friends" rating :) The movie is to comedy fans what a low budget zombie flick is to zombie fans. Bearable but leaving them trying to explain to other's why they should have enjoyed it......

Solid acting and delivery from Hal Linden,Al Sapienza, John Aprea...sadly they were NOT the focus of the movie and only allowed this to move from a potential 2 to a 4.

Good acting can only fix so much as well :)

I really enjoyed this film. The relationships are all really thoughtful, even the hit men have loads of personality and a natural and funny rhythm with their banter. They provide a lot of genuine comic relief, and they are almost like watching a funny old married couple. I also really enjoyed the connection between Michael (the fake Stevie) and Lenny (played by the fabulous Kevin Chapman). It was fun to watch Lenny go from thinking "we're doing this poor sap a favor" if the fake Stevie (Michael) gets bumped off in their ruse...to actually putting a guard on him because he wants to protect him from getting hurt. Could it have been edited a little tighter? Sure! But given that it's a low budget film, and I've seen so many of those, I think Chris Cordone did a lovely job, and it's obvious he squeezed every bit of substance out of that budget that he could...especially with all the great casting. I loved seeing John Aprea do his thing, better than anyone else. Such a natural. And I also really enjoyed seeing the great Hal Linden! He is a treasure. Torrey DeVito is beautiful and does a nice turn as Daria. Even the characters that have less than 5 minutes of screen time make the most of what they've got and bring something engaging to the film. I think it's a refreshing and fun film, in a sea of remakes and big budget boring movies. I like movies with characters I can actually care about it...and Steve D. delivers.

As indies go, this IS AN INDIE for sure. By that I mean it is easy to see that there were budget constraints and maybe more time could have been spent editing in some spots. But overall, this film hits the mark, tells a good story with likable, well written characters brought to life by a solid ensemble cast.

At the opening of the film, I was concerned that I was going to be subjected to 2 hrs of a predictable, mafia-trope-laden tale of caricature bad guys from the East Coast doing and saying "down and dirty" East Coast things (in LA). While there were elements of this (strip clubs, the uber-machismo of the film's antagonist and his legion of sycophantic followers) the story quickly settled into an engaging and charming ride for the audience.

In the end, this is a wonderful film. Chris Cordone scores the proverbial hat trick - It is well written, directed and acted with ALL the characters from main cast to supporting players to the bit parts so well developed and ALL contributing to the story. A fun tale that I characterize as: "Prince & The Pauper meets the confluence of RomCom, Mafia, ActorLife & Noir"

My aunt and me decided to get this movie on iTunes because it sounded fun. She has been going through a hard time and wanted to just chill out and relax. I don't think we were expected to be so entertained by such a sweet movie. I don't usually write reviews but I see A LOT of movies and this one really hits the spot. It was funny but also had great heart. The guy who plays the lead is very handsome and I totally believed him in both roles. There are a TON of supporting characters you WILL recognize from other movies and TV shows. Hal Linden from Barney Miller is in it and what a treat it is to see him. My aunt said she had a major crush on him back in the day. The lead girl is good in the movie but something about her makes her seem stuck up. I don't know, maybe she was just acting. I would totally recommend this movie to anyone who was looking for something fun and entertaining. We both really enjoyed it.

Chris Cordone does a great job here, playing two entirely different characters who just happen to look alike. And he wrote and directed the movie too, so this just adds to how great his work is. It's kind of a silly formula but it works for me, and everything he has done is worthwhile.

Here's the real proof of how much I enjoyed the movie: as I would look to see how much time was left, the end of the movie was in sight and I didn't want it to be over.

And yet something happened that made the ending kind of a disappointment, so I no longer felt the way I had felt. But that's okay because things got better.

I recognized Hal Linden, who I knew so well as Barney Miller. I've thought I saw him before, but this time it was really him. And he's still got it. As of whenever this movie was made.

And there were plenty of other good performances from leading actors. Let's not forget the hit men, who seem a little threatening but can't seem to do anything right.

And we do get to see Lenny act in a real movie. He's actually good!

The music was great. Mostly jazz, and I don't mean smooth jazz.

Is this family friendly? Not really. There are the scenes in the strip club, and in the version I saw the sound goes out a lot while the mouth of the character speaking is blurry. But I get the impression a lot of words were left out that would be fine on broadcast TV.

This was a very funny movie.