Palo Alto, CA

The modern cure for every lost and cynical teen, "Palo Alto" aims to eliminate the common misconception that life must be perfect. The lifestyles of four college freshman yield separate crises that are inevitably tied together to exploit this theme.

For one character, the true meaning of fraternity brotherhood is understood--a relief granted by this film, as most college movies portray frats as only about "chicks and beer."

For another character, his life is turned around by an old bus driver and a lonely, quirky girl that is played tremendously well by Autumn Reeser.

There are other characters as well, but summarizing them here will give too much away.

To finalize: Being an independent film, it's up to the viewer to choose how to relate to each character. That said, it is definitely a "Thinker" film. So pay attention!

This movie was alright, The concept really reminded me of another movie thats on Netflix, "Remember the Daze" which was obviously a spin off of "Dazed and Conufsed" but, I loved seeing Ben Savage, who's acting was pretty good as always; All-around the cast wasn't bad. Some parts of the movie were dumb, like, how did that party not get raided by the cops? I have been to parties like this before and that's all we think about happening aha. I guess the cops in Cali don't care. But, this movie really depicted on how everything changes throughout your life and how you have to let everything go and start the next chapter of your life. Really makes me think on how my life is gonna be after my senior year ends this year. Sad, Scary, but yet makes me excited.

I just saw Palo Alto at the Tribeca Film Festival. I loved this movie. Sure, any movie will seem better when you are seeing it at the world premier with members of the cast and crew in the theater, but this is a film that everyone can enjoy. If you liked Garden State you should definitely see this. For an older reference, think back to American Graffiti. The four high school friends who are home for Thanksgiving vacation meet and then separate for the evening. The movie follows the four on their different experiences. Usually when a movie does this I find that there are only one or two story lines that are interesting but in this case I was looking forward to the return of each character. The characters evolve in ways that are both entertaining and believable because the writing is real and the actors played their parts perfectly. Tom Arnold played the funny character who pops into scenes with wit and wisdom. While in some movies this character is one-dimensional, even this character had depth in Palo Alto. Also, the music was perfect and I hope a soundtrack is released. Be sure to see this movie when it is released.

This movie was hilarious the entire way through. I couldn't stop laughing. I think that it's one of the most true to life college movies ever. Every single character reminded me of one of my friends or myself. The actors were brilliant, I've seen almost all of them in either TV shows or other movies. Anthony (played by Ryan Hansen) was just as funny in Party Down a new TV show on Starz which I would recommend to anyone who loved this. I fell in love with Jaime (Autumn Reeser who played Taylor in The OC and was in Smokin Aces 2) who is beautiful with such a nice way of life. The boy she met was Nolan Larson, also my friend's name, played by Johnny Lewis who was Chili in The OC. Tom Arnold was great as a bus driver and one of my favorite characters was the grandma played by the great Eve Brent (The Green Mile). This reminded me of Kicking and Screaming (1995 directed by Noah Baumbach) another true to life college movie that made me reminisce my college years. The only problem is that no one has seen this movie, they need a wide release to reach more audience members. I can't believe that Palo Alto was made by a 20 year old and I can't wait to see what he does next. He put a lot of thought into this movie to make it seem real and had a talented ensemble. Most college movies are just about scoring chicks and drinking beers but this is that and so much more. I'm sure that anyone can relate to a number of the characters. I can't wait to show this to my friends and hope to find it on DVD soon, I know this is the type of movie that I can watch over and over again and still like it just as much. I also recommend Metropolitan (1990 by Whit Stillman) which is a more intellectual side of college kids with great dialogue and a lot of laughs. Also, on the contrary another movie that is so true and almost defined my middle school years was Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995 by Todd Solondz who also directed Happiness) which I saw as a kid and almost lived it out to my own life and just realized it when I saw it a couple months ago.

A fall release would be good for commercial distribution. The target audience will identify with the story line more then.

I liked this movie. There was a literary quality to the story line which had genuine complexity and depth. The characters were engaging, the photography was well done, even lovely at times, there was some suspense that held the different threads of the story together...incredible that such a young group produced this film.

I hope this gets wide release.

I expect we will be seeing a lot more of Leong in the future. With a bigger budget these kids could produce blockbusters in a few more years.