Checkout

I would have liked to see more reference in the credits to Mark Daniel Leitner, who is the editor and listed as editor. However he was also up-writer, production manager and wore a few other hats to make this project the best it could be. Just Sayin. Now that's all I have to mention, however this stupid review box requires 10 lines! That's stupid of IMDb to do that. So I'll paste lines from another review to make up the difference. Your review does not contain enough lines - the minimum length for reviews is 10 lines of text. Please see the guidelines. Attempts to pad the comment with junk words can result in your account being blocked from future submissions.

I recently saw Checkout at The Valley Film Festival and really enjoyed it. Anson Scoville, (as Curt McCain) was great. We should definitely be seeing him in more films. Michael Parducci and Burt Young were also very good. Mark Foggetti did a wonderful job with the cinematography and direction of the film. The story is entertaining and has laugh-out-loud humor. If you can... checkout... Checkout!

okay, i'm not writing this to be a jerk or anything, but i felt so strongly about this movie, i felt that i must. i saw this movie without knowing anything about it, aside from that it was shot locally (to me) in Webster. i knew it was about a guy who sets up a dating service in a supermarket threatened to be bought out by an evil businessman. i didn't really know what i expected to see, maybe a cheesy movie to laugh at, or a hastily put together b-movie that would also be funny in its own right, or maybe something that was genuinely funny and good. i have seen many terrible, terrible movies. most of the movies i really love are "bad" movies, crummy

horror and sci-fi flicks. but 'checkout' was /the/ worst movie i have seen thus far in my life.

i love romance, i am an utter and total fool for sap, and i love weepy romantic drama. but this movie demonstrated every cliché and pitfall of every romantic comedy that has been put out by Hollywood in the past decade. it was totally predictable, smarmy, badly acted and written. the good-hearted lovable loser: he's there. the girl-that-got-away-but-comes-back: she's there. the quasi-rebellious-lewd-jerk-who-reforms-later: he's there. there was even a homosexual character who's seemingly only purpose was there as comic relief and crude stereotypical jokes based on the fact that he's gay. these particular jokes weren't offensive, per se, but just the fact that the character /was/ so stereotyped and generic was offensive in its own right. anyway, the evil business man: he's there also. the girl's-new-fiancé-who-can't-handle-her-old-family-and-friends: he's there. everything works out perfectly in the end of the movie, characters who had previous tiffs make up with moving dialogue, as they understand the wrongs they have committed. there's even a part where a male character dresses up as a woman that's seemingly a part of the plan to save the supermarket. i expected this to go somewhere, but afterwards, there was /no/ apparent reason for it whatsoever. /why/ did he have to dress up as a woman?? besides just as a stupid, cheap gag???

the film's humor is all over the place and bland in every avenue: there's some bathroom humor in the beginning, some sexual jokes, fart jokes (which i will admit i laughed at, i can't help it when farts are involved), and then the aforementioned cross-dressing joke. none of it was original or unique, it was all derivative of countless dull, overused jokes in comedies today.

anyway, at the close of the film, i felt completely victimized and raped by this movie. yeah, i got in to see it for free, but that didn't help. this was an independent movie, free of lording hollywood producers and corporate limits. but why did it have to fall within those limits? why would it not have an independent flair instead of safely doing the same things that have been done in that genre a million times before? argh! every minute of this movie, from the cheesy animated title and comic-sans lettered credits, to the horrifically hokey ending and consistently flat characters, was pain. at parts i did laugh, but only out of the sheer agonizing need for release of my anguished emotions. i could only laugh because i could not believe my eyes and ears that this film was actually produced by a seemingly well-meaning, passionate filmmaker as-of-yet unconcerned with profits and pandering to the public. but this movie is the embodiment of pandering, safe, publicly accepted stories. then again.. it has caused a violent reaction within me and my friends. i guess that's good for something.

but in any case, if you want to see the same romantic comedy you've seen a trillion times before disguised as a shamelessly hackneyed, corny, utterly mediocre and oftentimes senseless film, see Checkout. as for me, if i hear "a dating service? in a supermarket??" one more time, i shall die. case closed.

Director Mark Foggetti synchronizes cast, characters and plot to produce a light, yet engaging film. Mark has a knack for casting, and in drawing out performances of his actors that strike just the right chord for the material. Checkout is no different. Michael Parducci is especially effective as Nick, who, throughout the story, experiences a full range of emotions from love to lament, anger to forgiveness, exasperation to hope, and pulls them all off convincingly.

Yes, there are some sophmoric characters, caricatures and situations, as one reviewer has pointed out, but these are but light-hearted adornments to what is, at its center, a multi-layered love story: the love of a mother and son; the love of two brothers; the love among friends; the love of a man and woman. No one is perfect. No one sells out. No one is unaffected.

If good storytelling is about conflict, and it is, then this is a very good story. The good guys win and that's okay.

Stay tuned for more good stuff from Mark Foggetti. He's just getting warmed up.

I had the pleasure of seeing this little independent comedy at a recent film festival in Southern California and found it captivating.

The two leads are charming, talented and worthy of further exposure in films. In fact, while Burt Young (ROCKY 1-4) was the only familiar face in the cast, I thought the other performers were uniformly good in their roles, which is rare in a low-budget independent film, where often friends and family are pressed into service. Clearly, this was a cast of professionals and they served the film well.

The premise was something unique and I always respond to originality when I see it in films. A likeable man-child, still pining for his lost love and looking for his place in the world, starts a dating service in the family-owned supermarket where he works. There are numerous funny sequences involving how people are put together in this highly unusual context. A subplot involving a threat to bulldoze the market for a parking lot, while not as engaging, still works well as a counterpoint to the dating service aspect of the story.

Director/cinematographer Mark Foggetti gives a thoroughly pro look to his film. Low budget movies usually look like it, owing to poor production values, underlit scenes and amateur level acting. CHECKOUT has none of these faults and indeed, looks like a studio-produced feature.

If you're looking for an evening of light entertainment, you could do much worse than CHECKOUT.