Favor

I honestly don't know what to make of this film.

I think if it had two major stars as the main characters and a great director it could have been an Oscar winner. It really wanted to be good but in the end failed.

The problem is, I'm not entirely sure where it failed.

I think it was the acting. There again, it may have been the direction. I don't know, so it was probably both.

Great idea and I found that I really,really,really wanted to enjoy it but in the end, just felt deflated.

Having said that if they'd put say George Clooney and Brad Pitt in as the leads and Tarantino or Fincher directing, I'm sure I'd have loved it.

Just shows how shallow I am, but I bet 100 to 1, most who watch will secretly agree. Worth the watch though!

There is an old maxim: "A friend helps you move. A good friend helps you move a body." That's the basis of Favor, a new film from writer/director Paul Osborne (Official Rejection, Ten 'til Noon) that had its world premiere at the 2013 Phoenix Film Festival and won the award for Best Screenplay.

The movie begins as its poster suggests. Successful advertising pitch man Kip Desmond (Blayne Weaver) pays a late-night visit to a childhood friend, unemployed couch slouch Marvin Croat (Patrick Day). The small talk is awkward. Kip obviously has moved up in the world and left Marvin behind. And Marvin is self-conscious about it, repeatedly apologizing that he can only offer Kip beer, not scotch.

Kip finally gets to the point: He's been carrying on an extramarital fling with a waitress named Abby (Rosalie Ward). Following sex in a motel room earlier in the evening, he says, she started pressing him for some commitment. During the ensuing argument, he pushed her; her head slammed into a nightstand; and she was dead on the floor. Now he's asking his old buddy Marvin – who always was down for anything – to help him dispose of her body.

Kip drives Marvin to the motel and shows him the body, then they return to Marvin's house for materials. Marvin says he has a good idea of what needs to be done and tells Kip to go home to his wife because it would be suspicious if he were gone all night. Marvin assures Kip he'll clean up the mess.

The first half of the film is somewhat predictable. In the morning light, we see Marvin holding a shovel and staring at a newly filled grave in the desert. A little later, Kip is at home with his wife, Claire (Cheryl Nichols), lying about how busy he is with work and promising to make it up to her. But that's not why he promises to make her breakfast while she showers. He does that because he's glanced out the window, seen Marvin sitting out on the curb and needs her to go a away for a few minutes.

Marvin is acting oddly, expressing concern about who will feed the dead woman's cat. Kip just wants him to go away.

And therein lies the essence of Kip.

He used Abby, who was beneath him in more ways than one, then is concerned only with disposing of her – literally.

Now he wants Marvin to go away, telling him they need to lie low and that he'll be in touch in a few days.

Marvin agrees, but keeps showing up: at Kip's home; at Kip's office; at Kip's favorite diner. Marvin may be a schlub, but he isn't a fool. He's noticed Kip's lack of empathy for the cat, not to mention for Abby. Kip's only regret is that the incident briefly threatened his executive lifestyle.

When Friends Grow Apart

Marvin creates an escalating series of dilemmas in which Kip must choose between a lifestyle that has no place for Marvin and appeasing Marvin to protect that lifestyle. I could see this coming because of the movie's basic premise, but at some point the plot veers off the tracks in a dark but powerful way. It strips Kip to the bone, asking him – and by extension the audience – what we value most and what we're willing to sacrifice to protect that.

During the post-premiere Q&A, Osborne said one of his inspirations for Favor was the rise of Facebook. The social media platform has led users to retain, or even renew, relationships that previously would have died on the vine.

Most of us have that one friend from our past who's never really moved on. We maintain the friendship out of loyalty or nostalgia, even though we no longer have anything in common with the person. We can live with the occasional online update. But what if we found that person sitting on the curb in front of our home?

Day does an amazing job of making Marvin relatable even as he grows into a monster, kind of like the plant – "Feed me, Seymour!" – in Little Shop of Horrors. Day is director of the Young Actors Space, a school in Los Angeles for child and teen performers. During the Q&A, he said his biggest challenge in playing Marvin was figuring out how to make the audience like Marvin, at least on some level. Early in Favor, Marvin appears pleased that Kip needs him for something – anything. That gives credibility to the subsequent rage when he realizes just how little Kip values him.

Weaver does an nice job as Kip but had less of a challenge than Day. A major point of the film, after all, was the discovery of just how shallow Kip is. For most of the film, he seemed to channel a young, pre-drugs Jeff Conaway (Grease, Taxi, Babylon 5). In the final scene, however, he offers a piercing image of Kip as a man utterly devoid of conscience.

Favor may focus on a relationship between strong male characters, but a couple of actresses deliver spot-on performances. Nichols and Christina Rose – as Kip's wife and office assistant, respectively – are strong women puzzled by Marvin's sudden ubiquity, and even more so by Kip's inexplicable indulgence of it. Their portrayals of annoyance and confusion escalate along with Marvin's intrusiveness. In a metaphorical sense, of course, they reinforce social chasm that has formed between the childhood friends. The women are attainable for Kip, but out of Marvin's league.

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Stuart J. Robinson practices writing, editing, media relations and social media through his business, Phoenix-based Lightbulb Communications.

There's some genuinely great acting in this, plus some really strong writing and directing, but ultimately it doesn't quite achieve escape velocity and soar. The ending is just too convenient, and with another pass this script could have been so much more effective. However, it's still definitely worth a watch, despite these failings.

Went to the screening of this movie in Sonoma along with an old co-star friend of mine. Wasn't sure what to expect from the film and was blown away at the cadence and depth off the performances of the cast.

Lots of subtle moments that keep you on the edge of your seat wondering if you have guessed how the ending might unfold. I've had the opportunity to work with Patrick Day, always knew he was talented, but I never got to see him in anything dramatic. This was a great project for him to spread his acting wings.

It's great to see so many independent films being made now, that can rival the look and feel of big studio productions. It's a good wake up call that the industry is changing and evolving and providing new avenues for creative people.

Bravo to the cast and crew for a great break from reality.

I'm watching films every day, always looking for new, surprising and amazing stories. Most of them are just a waste of time, no doubt. But from time to time I discover a true pearl among them. Like this one! I didn't expect much, but the rating of 6,3 made me curious. And what a surprise! A cheap little indie movie with almost no budget and no special effects that was so gripping and thrilling! It avoided a few typical turns of the story that you could have expected. Instead the characters showed some development that I didn't see coming. Maybe a little bit too much development in the case of Marvin (Patrick Day) to be absolute believable. But this little flaw is nothing compared to most other films.

Good acting, original story and just enough humour. Watch it!