The Scam

I received a screening copy of this film and watched it last night without having any idea what to expect. From start to finish, the film was excellent. The acting was great, especially by lead man Zachary Green who - according to IMDb this is his first acting credit - was flawless in his performance. The screenplay was also spot on. There were several twists and turns - right up until the end - that I never saw coming. The dialogue felt authentic and the characters were likable and memorable - not an easy feat considering they're all scam artists. There was also a lot of social commentary on the justice system in America, something that writer Ryan Priest embeds seamlessly into the story. This film won several awards at a San Diego independent film festival and they were all well deserved. I would highly recommend seeing it if you have the chance.

Obviously low budget, with some very questionable acting at times and a little bit of cornball music and dialogue - but not completely unwatchable... the definition of 5..

I did feel the lead actor showed some promise.

I did like the ending.

It has a distinctly rough and ready, homemade feel, but the script is competent and some of the acting is actually pretty impressive, despite the shoddy camerawork and variable sound quality. However, it's certainly watchable in a kind of middle of the road way. Completely average in all respects.

This has a $350,000 budget. So what can you do with that kind of budget? Movies like "Clerks", "Napoleon Dynamite", "Night of the Living Dead" or "Halloween" (adjusted for inflation, of course).

"The Scam," like most low budget films, has no special effects. That cuts costs. But for some reason, the other films managed to have good writing, good acting, good directing, good editing, good sound, etc. all with a low budget.

Lately I have been reading "The Screenwriter's Bible" by Trottier. He's nice enough to give long lists of "Don't do this." I think the writers could have spent some time with this book. There are exceptionally awkward lines. Even some lengthy exposition thrown in.

On the plus side, a few actors managed to turn out decent performances. However, most of them gave the film the feel of those dorky Christian movies from the 70s I was subjected to as a kid. Also on the plus side, it wasn't boring. I did manage to make it to the end without hating myself.

Movies like this need more distribution. This is better than so many movies that studios put out. Netflix should remake this with better acting and production value. The acting isn't bad, but if they got a big namer on this idea it would kill it. Congrats to the team that made this. Awesome job! Truly a unique story. I hope more people watch it.