Sherman's Way

We were at a convention for British Car Enthusiasts and somehow the director/producer was invited to screen the film for over 300 of us at the convention. There happens to be an MGB in the film so the organizers thought it would be cool. No one had ever heard of the film, but most everyone enjoyed it and got quite a few laughs out of it.

Turned out to be a very good film in fact and worth seeing when it gets to the big screen or on DVD if it does not make it to the theater.

About life, taking risks, relationships and very well done with a good story line. Other than some language and minor skinny dipping scenes it still could be a very good family film.

Thinking about it almost reminds me of a modern Easy Rider in a way.

"Sherman's Way" is a tale of two unlikely buddies whose paths cross quite by accident in the fertile fields of the Napa Valley. One, Sherman Black, is an uptight little rich kid from Manhattan who's trying to get out from under the thumb of his domineering mother who has his entire future as a ladder-climbing corporate lawyer firmly mapped out for him. The other, Palmer, is a down-on-his-luck free-spirit who roams the countryside in his beat-up cherry-red sports car, not quite able to come to terms with the fact that, two decades earlier, he came in fourth place in an Olympics downhill skiing competition. After Sherman's girlfriend dumps him for being too unadventurous and vanilla for her taste, the befuddled yuppie heads to the open road to flag down a ride. Enter Palmer in his roadster and off the two strangers go, two polar opposites brought together by fate to learn from one another how best to get through life. And, though Sherman does most of the learning, he's still able to teach a great life-altering lesson to Palmer at the end. In very quick order, a strong bond is established between the two men, as they debate the relative merits of the carefree life vs. the corporate rat race with good-natured humor and aplomb.

Sherman is further helped along in his loosening-up process by Addy, an attractive young artist who shows the young man a thing or two about living in the moment and about the importance of actively pursuing the desires of one's heart.

"Sherman's Way" is a predictable but breezy small town comedy, filled with rapid-fire one-liners and charming, self-effacing performances from Michael Shulman, James Le Gros, Brooke Nevin and Enrico Colantoni. Smartly written by Tom Nance and sharply directed by Craig Saavedra, this topsy-turvy, slightly sentimental version of "Pygmalion" will leave you with a lump in your throat and a smile on your face.

And that Northern California scenery is as flavorful and fine as a fully-aged Napa Valley wine.

I saw this movie at the Cinequest Film Festival in 2008 and thoroughly enjoyed it, and it seemed like the entire audience did too. Very likable characters, believable character growth, Excellent actors, Excellent writing. I don't like spoiling what movies are about so I won't go into details. The movie description keeps referencing "road trip" but I felt like it was sort of a road trip pitstop movie. Meaning... There's these two guys, they go on a road trip, but then they have to stop at a small town for a few days and that's where the majority of the film takes place. I'm not sure why Lacy Chabert is credited so highly in the movie because she's in it for all of 2 minutes. But Brooke Nevin is in it and she was pretty damn awesome.

I was sad this movie was over as I really enjoyed the characters and wanted to know what happens in the future. I sincerely hope this movie makes it to the big screen or at least to DVD so more people can see it. It was one of the best movies of Cinequest.

There's really nothing about this forgettable film that makes it worth recommending. It's unimaginative in story, character, and execution and pretty predictable when it tries to be clever. If you've watched a decent amount of indie films you've already seen everything in this movie done better in some other film.

But the acting is fine (Enrico Colantoni is great, James LeGros is good), it looks fine, and the music is ignorable to decent and it's all exactly the sort of music you'd expect to hear in this sort of film.

It's not worth seeking out, but (and this is the only reason I bothered to write a review for it) if you happen to be stuck in a hotel room or are house sitting for friends and it comes on some indie film channel and you have nothing to read and don't really want to think about anything it's not a bad option.

This would have worked really really well, pretty charming indie, good solid values, great, great supporting cast, neat feel and a good take on the lazier side of American small town life....

The plot is simple: uptight law student meets a down-on-his-luck ex-Olympic skier bum and together with the bum's friends, the law student learns about life... nothing stunning but sounds OK, right?

But...

The lead role of Sherman is just horrible... sorry, but awkward that becomes this type of awkward charm is just squirmy... and why everyone tries to befriend Sherman totally defeated us.

Honestly, they should be sorely tempted to give him a really big kicking to teach him a little about life than take him fishing.

I'm not being mean-spirited here, it just don't work. Sherman is just unlikeable, and never more so when trying to be likable. You just feel that 5 minutes away from the new circle of friends and the GOP genes will kick back in with a vengeance.

Horrible miscast and it really spoils a film that could have really lit up the screen with the right actor.

Hate to trash indie films but this is a real lesson is getting the right person cast right from the off.

What you end up is a film you can definitely watch for the supporting cast...

'Nuff said.