Being Awesome

Being Awesome isn't even a movie. It's a documentary about single guys. The writers resolutely avoid the stereotypes and obvious gags, to go straight to the heart of the matter.

The actors are brilliant, the director is an artist, and those writers... holy crap.

I know these guys. I am these guys. This is a great movie.

I can't help but say: best movie ever. No gimmicks, Real life story. Great acting, editing and directing. Great photography. And that on a budget. True dedication to tell a story with no frills and no exageration and be original too.

There is a charm to how this acting ensemble tells the story--the story of how friends relate to each other ten years down the road--after the hills, the valleys, the twists, the turns, the curves, the fender-benders, the collisions, the stuck-in-traffic for days, weeks, months or years. A unique sense of humor can bond people, can make or break a friendship. Humor is a coping mechanism we all depend on, like it or not, and Gardner, well aware of this, tells our stories as he tells his own (and those of the other characters.) This pays off in a total lack of pretentiousness, which is why we love these people.

Memphis, Tennessee, actor Allen C. Gardner made his writing-directing debut with the appealing, Kevin Smithesque Act One: a film regarding the trials and tribulations of a struggling screenwriter. Here, in his directing debut and third writing credit, the worlds' of the most popular and least popular guys in school, collide.

Gardner is Teddy: a struggling high school graduate dealing with his fading "big man on campus" status as he attends his 10th reunion. There he meets his opposite, the invisible, least popular of his graduating class, Lloyd: a sad-sack, divorced high school teacher.

In high school, of course, Teddy and Lloyd weren't friends. Ten years later, they quickly discover they now have -- and had -- more in common than they realize. Together, they learn that their respective failures are rooted in their each "expecting too much from life," as they come to learn the key to happiness is not "being awesome," but "being worthy" to themselves and others.

While this is an industry calling card for every-growing resume of Allen C. Gardner, he steps back and gives a co-leading man status to the dynamite Drew Smith. Smith's charisma carries Being Awesome across the finish line (he reminds of one of a young Paul Giamatti, when he first came to our attention by way of the incredibly underrated American Splendor and delightful the wine county-road tripper, Sideways). Smith's an actor to watch out for, as you can easily see him as part of a network comedy ensemble.

We all reach those places in life where we feel stuck, start to question everything we do, and sometimes even who we are. This film is about pushing through those moments and learning to feel awesome again. Highly relatable film, as is all the stuff by this filmmaker. If you like this one, I suggest you check out his other stuff too.