Pizza: The Movie

Pizza The Movie is about a guy named Kevin (Craig Wisniewski), who has a crush on Valerie (Eva Conrad), a girl he went to school with. He wants to ask her out but is not sure how to approach her. He finally decides to take her to the best French restaurant in town, which will cost about $300. So his buddy Barry (Jason Muzie) gets the "brilliant" idea of Kevin becoming a pizza delivery guy (like him) to get the courage/excuse to show up at her doorstep. It turns out pizza delivery is harder than Kevin thought, and runs into quite a few snags along the way, including a tough delivery girl named Wendy (Daniela Mangialardo), who won't let anyone stand in her way to afford breast surgery.

Now, I haven't seen any other independent films before, so all I could compare this movie to were big budget films, which doesn't hurt this movie at all.

I enjoyed this movie a great deal and I found myself laughing a lot. The film is produced very professionally, and the soundtrack (which is available to listen to via the movie's menu)seemed to fit perfectly with the scenes in which it was used.

The Extras: The extras are just as funny as the movie, if not more so. There is a lot of extras on the DVD, they were very generous with them. The out takes and "Making of" are my favorites.

Bottom Line: If you have a somewhat open mind and like to laugh, you will enjoy Pizza The Movie. It's well worth the 98 minutes.

Absolutely great (for an independent) Film!

'Pizza: the Movie' is no technical masterpiece. It doesn't have million dollar actors. It's not full of special effects or crazy, mind splitting camera work. In fact, I've never heard of the director. At first thought, a quick glace at the website (www.pizzathemovie.com) and based on the title, I expected very little.

Then this package came in the mail. And, that in and of itself, is no big thing because I get all sorts of packages (do you hear that FBI), but this package I wasn't expecting. It was Pizza: the Movie, an incredibly well packaged and produced DVD. The quote on the back summed it up oh so perfectly... "It's better than I thought it would be." Barbara Gregory, the director's mom. Damn that made me chuckle. And that wasn't the last laugh either.

I'm not going to get into a detailed diatribe about what was wrong with Pizza: the Movie (because it wasn't much in this humble reviewers mind, just typical but forgivable indie problems), but what I will say is what was so great. It's a great premise that doesn't go where you would expect it to go (Hollywood style) and isn't too over the top. It's enjoyable to watch and is full of humorous parts, some that I wouldn't have expected. The characters are enjoyable (although one character is the like 'em or hate 'em variety) and well balanced, reminding me fondly of my days in college. It's paced well, and believable.

Pizza: the Movie was not only a surprise, it has inspired this independent filmmaker to aim higher.

• 4/5 Little Guys -

First was Hot Dog, Then Hamburger, Now Pizza The Movie.

If you've ever delivered Pizza, and who hasn't, you'll love this flick. I cracked up over and over. Maybe that's because the movies scenarios happened to me, but my wife enjoyed it as well. Course, as a kid she too worked the counter of a Pizza joint.

How many times did I have to wait for coupons, or people to count out their pennies? Ugh! People need to tip better!

The flicks premise is fun and original. I expected it to just be about pizza deliveries, but the movie has a heart. It's about love.

What is great about this movie is that it doesn't follow Hollywood's sugarcoated bull or Indies tragic art. It walks a fine line that makes it different and stand alone.

The movie takes the indie road, but not seriously. It has pig Latin subtitles for Christ sakes. I think that pretty much sums up writer/director Donald Gregory's sense of humor.

Grab some friends, order a pizza, and pop in this flick.

This film starts out in a way that you think might be predictable, but with fun plot twists, clever dialogue, genuine energy and a slew of laughable moments, totally surprises you and wins you over.

If it seems like the film is only about the plight of a pizza delivery person, think again. Sure, most of the best moments are terribly funny scenes of the worst delivery scenarios imaginable. But there's a bigger story than that and other fun sub-plots that make for a well-rounded film about a guy who just happens to be delivering pizza for a concrete reason, and the rest of the world around him is given equal weight.

The whole DVD is a nice, slick presentation with tons of extras that are definitely worth checking out.

AND the soundtrack really rocks! It's a great array of mostly Ohio-based musicians (local to the filmmaker) and the varied songs are well incorporated into the film. This is truly a soundtrack that merits listening to on its own.

So, cue up your DVD, crank the volume, order a pizza (and tip generously, or at least humanely) and watch alone or with friends. Just don't burn the roof of your mouth!

PTM's plot consists of a man finally taking proactive measures towards a crush he's had since his high school days, now three years gone. In order to see the object of his, apparently neverending, adoration Kevin (Craig Wisniewski) adorns the guise of his pizza delivering best friend, Barry (Jason Muzie). Kevin, realizing that delivering her an occasional Italian pie is not going to spark any romance between them decides he needs to take decisive action. With the help of Barry they devise a plot more heinous than peeing on The Alamo. They decide that Kevin should go out on a thin limb and, well ,.........ask her out to dinner.

Personally, I've never been able to quantify the exact dollar amount of a romantic dinner. Apparently, much to Kevin's chagrin, the romantic American dollar isn't valued all that highly by the French. Kevin quickly establishes that the proper meal, within the proper French restaurant, with the apropos amorous results, will run him a tab of three hundred bills. This doesn't bode well, for our Kevin's financial foundation is built on a flimsy job as an underemployed, sexually harassed librarian's assistant. In dire monetary straights, and with limited time before his love returns to college, Kevin accepts Barry's offer to temporarily enter the world of pizza delivery.

Admittedly the premise of the movie is thin is retrospect. What is far more bothersome about the movie than its overarching plot is the portrayal within the story of the object of Kevin's affection. Have you noticed I haven't mentioned her name? It's not because I want to keep her a mysterious figure. I simply don't remember what it is.

To address the acting is to first call on the portrayal of Barry by the effusive Jason Muzie. The director (Donald Gregory) chose to let the character of Barry dominate the first third of the movie. Muzie's acting requires a small universe of anecdotes, so I will offer one: If you took an intoxicated Curly and combined him with Belushi (the good one) while he was actually on one of the speed balls that killed him you might have an approximation of the on-screen presence of Muzie. One thing that plagued this movie was character interaction. For the majority of it's run time the feeling is that the actors were plying their trade, in a room, by themselves. This lack of flow between players is painfully obvious a good percentage of the time that Muzie delivers a line.

That being said, there is an undeniable potential within someone like a Jason Muzie. If he learns how to deliver a line without making facial contortions that would make body linguists giggle, there is definitely something there. When Muzie became Barry I laughed, when Muzie tried to be Barry, I cringed.

Although Kevin is the central character of the movie, Wisniewski's portrayal of him is easily overshadowed for the first thirty minutes by one shot of Barry playing with his own nipples. However, once you do start to notice Wisniewski's acting; you realize that he's actually doing what an actor should. You believe that the poor bastard is actually Kevin. Wisniewski's delivery of lines is comparatively smooth and far more natural than that of his peers. Wisniewski is able to deliver someone having a normal, at least in vocal inflection if not topic, conversation.

If the interaction between Kevin and Barry dominate the first third of the movie, then the budding relationship between Kevin and Wendy (Daniela Mangialardo) dominates the closing third. Wendy is a tough-as-nails, well established delivery driver that brooks the rookie no respect as Kevin first joins the front line of pizza delivery.

Unfortunately, Mangialardo is about as relaxed playing a hard knocks kid as I am wearing a kilt. The thought might be inviting but you know you're not going to be comfortable once it happens. It's as the movie progresses and the relationship between Wendy and Kevin develops that Wendy is allowed to drop her shields a bit and for the first time in the movie two of the actors establish some actual, enjoyable, chemistry. This is when the movie has some serious potential that it should have gotten to much quicker and explored much further. Unfortunately that didn't happen.

The movie is enjoyable, I've probably been a bit overly harsh with some of my words. But it's hard when you watch an effort that is so admirable fall short of what it was actually quite close to achieving, being a very decent movie made by pure grit of those involved. Donald Gregory did an admirable job in many facets of the production. I've watched a lot of movies made for a hell of a lot more money that had far worse lighting, worse sound, and worse pace.

I'm not a good authority on DVD, quite frankly there are few movies that I want to see any special features about. I slugged through a couple on this disk. The Making Of, was fine, if strangely enough a little dry. They do actually have Pig Latin subtitles which amazed me. And if you like bloopers there's about 853 hours of them on the disk.

One note that I forgot to mention. One of the best soundtracks I have heard in a long, long time. Let's get that released on a CD, alright guys.

6/10