My Tiny Universe

I just rented this flick and I gotta tell ya': it's just too good, writing and ensemble work. I cleared out a whole bag of tortilla chips with a hint of lime with basil dipping sauce watching it. Yes, I'm actually gonna give it 8 stars (with an 'h').

My only problem is that the film is unnecessarily racist. The only undeveloped character is the Latino limo driver. This one facet threatened to sully the film for me but then I had to consider the totality of the writing and performances.

Lesley Ann Warren: now that's a classy actress, let me tell ya'. She was a hoot in 'Victor/Victoria'...too bad I don't see her in too many other vehicles. Perhaps she's only suitable for scorned sex-pots but I doubt it.

This overlooked Indie features razor-sharp performances in a really brilliant script. It's a shame that it didn't get a distribution deal.

One reviewer on Amazon hated the main character, but that does not make me dislike the movie. After all, at the outset of the film he was about to commit suicide anyway, so you can't really expect his subsequent actions to be very clearly motivated by any specific identifiable goals of his with which the viewer may sympathize -- except perhaps to strike back at the small cast of other more successful and more clearly motivated Hollywood types who are successively dragged into orbit around him through the accident of his finding the producer's cell-phone. But the unfolding and increasingly complicated details of this process for me made a highly entertaining story.

And from a technical viewpoint I greatly admired the way the filmmakers were able to tell this story so vividly and engagingly, within the evident constraints of a low budget production: no special effects, no crane or tracking shots, no expensive locations. Once the situation is established, all of the action happens in and around a small apartment and the adjoining balcony and long stairway (which provides a nice running joke). This forces the use of narrative devices more familiar from theater than film, moving a small cast of characters around this fixed interior set, with cinematic techniques limited to the blocking of shots and cutting between close-ups and two-shots. This puts all the weight on the script and the performances, and I thought these were both brilliant. I kept being reminded of Mike Nichols' film version of 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?', or of the garage scenes in 'Reservoir Dogs', but with Coen Brothers' sardonic humor replacing overt violence.

When the description calls this a 'dark comedy' it ain't kidding. We begin with an opening scene of a guy preparing to blow his brains out. The film progresses through alcoholism, infidelity, assault & battery, douchebags, sleazy entertainment suits, guns, more alcoholism, irreverent Mexican stereotyping, more guns, and more people about to blow their brains out. Call me sick, but I laughed the whole way.

Despite these sensational events, this is a very character-driven story, and its minimal presentation (the whole movie basically happens on a guy's balcony) reminds me of a cleverly written play or slick British comedy. If you liked "Death at a Funeral" (original British version) or "Le dîner de cons" (original French version) or maybe even the classic "Arsenic & Old Lace", I think you'll enjoy this flick. The common theme of all these films being: a whole bunch of certifiably insane characters are stuck together for 90 minutes. Throw in a few guns and you got a laugh riot on your hands.

Beyond laughs, though, this film has some compelling themes going on. In particular the title "My Tiny Universe" implies just what it sounds like. For a brief afternoon, a seemingly insignificant loser's life attracts a menagerie of mighty & powerful people, all of whom find themselves irrevocably sucked in to a black hole of events. We see a group of incompatible people who are ironically drawn close by the common misery of having the worst day of their lives. It makes you realize that the universe isn't as big as it seems, nor is it exclusive. Thumbs up to great writing, great directing & great performances all around.

This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The acting is dreadful, none of the characters are believable or even likable, and it is absolutely full of clichés.

The film meanders for the first thirty minutes in a story that makes very little sense and is annoying at best. By forty minutes in, you're bored stiff and staring at the clock, wondering when this is going to end.

Though I'm sure one might wonder how a movie that contains such gems as "What are you two, in the brotherhood of penises?" and "If I'm going to kill myself, I'm gonna make damn sure I'm drunk enough to do it!" slurred out oh-so-convincingly by a "pregnant" woman who has spent the last hour cursing out every person she comes into contact with.

Argh. Life's too short for movies like this.

Saw "My Tiny Universe" at the AFI Film Festival yesterday. Logged in to see what others had to say. Nothing yet, so let me be the first!

This is simply a wonderful movie with great performances from everybody. It shifts rapidly from dark to light ... very intelligent and very funny, laugh out-loud (not just me, the whole audience) comedy.

I can't single out a performer for praise. All were wonderful and the chemistry between them was magical.

Great music too. This is the kind of movie that makes the whole realm of independent movies so special.

Kudos to all, esp. the writers/directors Glenn Scantlebury and Lucy Phillips, for being able to bring this cast together.