Break a Leg

I stumbled across the film at the San Diego Film Festival. The film has moments, especially the beginning is told nicely (the scene when Mateo decides to go after another actor who got his part), but then it becomes very confusing and somewhat indulgent. On one hand the film has plot holes. Certain scenes were left out probably because they didn't have time during production. On the other hand the film spends too much time on things that have nothing to do with the premise.

The worst part for me was a weird monoloque that Matteo had, voicing his frustration about his situation. I'm sure it was supposed to be this great character revelation, but it wasn't.

Cinematography and Production Design were both weak. The best part is Molly Parker. All in all, this movie, unfortunately is not as good as the premise sounds.

I recently watched Break A Leg (2005) on Tubi. The film follows a struggling actor reaching the end of his rope, trying everything from studying to taking classes and working closely with his agent to land the roles he believes he deserves. Frustrated, he decides to take matters into his own hands.

Directed by Monika Mitchell (Deadly Midwife), the cast includes John Cassini (Chaos), Carol Mansell (Better Call Saul), Frank Cassini (The Watchmen) and Jennifer Beals (Flashdance).

I really watched this thinking it starred John Cusack...it doesn't. It does have a cameo by Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), whose acting is a bit over the top and his character added little to the film. This also has fun cameos by Jennifer Beals and Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy). John Cassini does deliver a strong and authentic main character. There's a nice blend of desperation, hope and comedy in his performance. The storyline does have a great setup with some potential characters worth rooting for, but as the plot unfolds it losses some steam and ends as a dud.

Despite a promising setup and potential characters to root for, the plot loses momentum and concludes as a bit of a letdown. Break A Leg offers a unique character story with a great premise but lacks pull-through. I would give it a 5/10 but suggest watching it once.

This was the worst movie I saw at WorldFest and it also received the least amount of applause afterwards! I can only think it is receiving such recognition based on the amount of known actors in the film. It's great to see J.Beals but she's only in the movie for a few minutes. M.Parker is a much better actress than the part allowed for. The rest of the acting is hard to judge because the movie is so ridiculous and predictable. The main character is totally unsympathetic and therefore a bore to watch. There is no real emotional depth to the story. A movie revolving about an actor who can't get work doesn't feel very original to me. Nor does the development of the cop. It feels like one of many straight-to-video movies I saw back in the 90s ... And not even a good one in those standards.

Easily the best feature I saw at the Phoenix Film Festival, it deserved the best film award it received. The story is original. The writing is clever, funny and dark, and has a ring of veracity thanks to the writers' experience in the industry. The story structure is right on, with a satisfying climax. The acting was mostly terrific, especially Jennifer Beals -- I've never witnessed a better performance from her. John Cassini is right on the money, and the always great Molly Parker is great yet again. It's very well cast. My only complaint is that the psychedelic Shakespeare scene went on for far too long. Thanks for brightening an otherwise dreary Phoenix Film Festival.

The story was written well, and it kept my attention. There were some great shots and sequences in the film. There is a sequence where the main character (played by John Cassini) is acting out his part as a priest...delivering his lines to black x's on a green screen. The camera clips back and forth between Cassini's priest and the x's as his lines are spoken. A shot that particularly stood out was a 30-second shot of Cassini inserting a blue contact lens over his brown eye, the lens doesn't quite want to stay in place, over and over Cassini blinks, and finally the lens slides into place. Fantastic shot. Enjoyable film, I would recommend it.