Searching for Sonny

I saw this film at the Austin Film Festival, and found it to be much more enjoyable than I'd expected. The preview in some ways doesn't do it justice. Searching for Sonny is a quirky, stylized comedy that delivers everything from amused chuckles to outright guffaws. A large part of that is due to the work of Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney (better known on the web as the comedy team, BriTANicK), who bring an edge of lunacy to the proceedings. The lead, Jason Dohring (beloved by TV fans for his roles in cult classics Veronica Mars and Moonlight), as the depressed and somewhat befuddled Elliott, provides a great foil for the others as they work their way through the mystery surrounding the curious disappearance of their old high school buddy, Sonny (Masi Oka of Heroes and Hawaii Five-O). Alice Wood's lush score, and Clarke Peters' voice-over narration combine, as writer/director Andrew Disney has commented, to give these characters a bigger story than they deserve--and the result is an extremely watchable comedy that should leave viewers smiling.

To be honest, the only reason I wanted to watch this movie is because I long for the days of Logan and Veronica. It seems like everything Jason Dohring does, soon ends. That being said, the character of Elliot is nothing like Logan, but the movie is still watchable nonetheless. It's a mystery movie with real mystery. As soon as you think you know "who done it," some new clue or misdirection pops up and throws you off. I was half expecting poor production quality, muffled sounds, all in all a cheap looking movie. Not so. It didn't have a large theatrical release, or if it did I missed it, but you would never know. Not to mention all the awards it won at film festivals. It's a good high quality movie, which you can watch for free right now on HULU

Searching for Sonny is a roller coaster of mystery and laughs. Done in mock film noir style, it has enough twists to make any corkscrew jealous. The hijinks start when Elliot Knight (Jason Dohring) gets a strange invitation to a high school reunion that blossoms into a full blown murder mystery. This sets a hapless group of friends on a quest filled with misadventures as they follow is an endless variety of twists that keep everyone guessing. The film relies heavily on the comedic talents of Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher so this is a must see for BriTANick fans. And if you haven't heard of BriTANick, Searching for Sonny is a great introduction. So when you want to break out the popcorn and just have some fun, Searching for Sonny is a great choice.

We saw 'Searching for Sonny' at the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival in Dubuque, Iowa on April 21, 2012. It is a very funny movie with several terrific actors. I enjoyed watching these actors hilariously stumble from one crazy scene to the next. Their dialog and interaction with each other was wonderfully amusing. The actors did a great job working together attempting to make this story seem as real as possible. I loved every moment! The movie kept me on the edge of my seat with anticipation of what was going to happen next. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who want to have a good laugh. I am looking forward to adding it to my DVD collection.