Checkout

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 went in to this movie thinking it was going to be the next Clerks, but left feeling let down. The humor was weak and the characters fairly flat. That isn't to say it was all bad, the idea of the dating service in the grocery store seemed like pretty fertile material, but the director switched focus to the cliche'd "save the Mom-and-Pop store from the evil corporation guy". I felt like if he would have just stuck with the dating service plot, he would have come out with a much more memorable movie. Now, to do the film justice, I am from the Rochester area and loved the way he portrayed Webster. In fact, the best Kevin Smith (of Clerks) homage here was giving props to his hometown. Webster, NY is to Checkout what Red Bank, NJ is to Clerks. The director wisely threw in a date at Nick Tahou's. Trust me, as far as things to do in Rochester, a garbage plate is at the top of the list. I was lucky enough to see this film at the Little in Rochester so everybody knew when the odes to the town came up and appreciated them.

I can only say wonderful things about this film! When a local supermarket worker, Nick, who has been a hard worker for years looses his promotion to his ex-fiancé who suddenly blows into town,his love for her and anger for stealing his job make a wonderful cliché. I don't want to give anything away, so I will just say this: From the first scene to the last it is non stop enjoyment! Burt Young is the highlight of this film and it will appeal to people of all ages! I have this on DVD and think so should everyone else! So when you go to a video store, why not check out CheckOut? You will not be disappointed! The supporting cast, however not as famous as Burt Young, also bring this film together to make it become an instant classic.

This was filmed at the store my brother is co-manager of! His family is even in the film plus many other locals. We saw the preview and I love the "guy with the sausage" line. I know many of the local people that would like to have a copy of this so if any one finds where they might be distributing it let me know. The initial part of the story is actually truthful - Hegedorns has been a family owned business with the one store and an ice cream store since I can remember. They are surrounded by the big boys like Tops, Wegmans and more - BJs is in their back door. But they still survive. One of the funniest was my niece played her true roll as a cashier and then you'd see her in the deli and then as a customer.

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.