Checkout

i should qualify that title, now that i think about it. Checkout is not entirely worthless. i've had the opportunity to see it twice, and on the second time i did get a great laugh at the movie's expense. so i guess it's worth something for that. and also it's worthwhile for the excruciating pain it caused me on my first viewing. as another reviewer pointed out, this film is hackneyed in every sense of the word. not a single original thought went into this movie (which makes the comment below about the originality of the premise entirely baffling to me). the film is nothing but a long line of cliches which are strung together and paraded around as a movie. it is definitely not the next Clerks, it is definitely not original, and it is absolutely not "good, clean fun." the film is absolute agony to the uninitiated (after seeing it a first time, the second time can be quite funny, in an insulting sort of way). as i looked around the theater, it was obvious that nearly everyone, barring perhaps the elderly, were completely bored or pained by this movie. during some of the particularly emotional scenes, like where Nick chews out his mother, the audience was actually cringing because it was so poorly done. i even heard someone *groan* in the theater, something i had heretofore never witnessed. i don't care where you have the chance to see this movie, be it at a film festival, or in a indie theater, or wherever. do yourself a favor, skip this movie with a vengeance. unless you're like me and just can't resist the opportunity to see what may truly be the worst movie ever made.

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 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.

I found CHECKOUT to be a well-produced, visually engaging and fun film. The story is simple and sweet... a young man starts a dating service in his employer's grocery store. As the plot unfolds, he gets caught in some sticky situations, he learns about the value of love and honesty, and realizes the value of true friendship. Our hero, Jack comes of age in this film and eventually wins back the love and respect of his ex-girlfriend. Together, they save the grocery store (her father's business) and we hope live happily ever after. It's not a complex story but one that this movie-goer loves to see told over and over again. Give me an uncomplicated romantic comedy any day of the week. CHECKOUT made me smile, made me laugh and more importantly entertained me.

Being a Rochester native makes me especially interested in this film and its path. I was delighted to learn it took 2ND Place in the Valley Film Festival in Los Angeles. I hope it continues to draw positive attention in other film festivals and I'd love to see it be distributed nationally. Kudos to Mark Fogetti, the cast and crew for creating a film with heart and soul. BRAVO!

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.