Reviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
Directed & Written by: Scott Caan. Produced by: Kip Konwiser & Gregory Sabatino. Director of Photography: Phil Parmet. Edited by: Andrea Bottigliero. Music by: Danny Saber. Released by: THINKFilm. Country of Origin: USA. 100 min. Rated: R. With: Scott Caan, Jeff Goldblum, Shawn Hatosy & Kelly Lynch.
Dallas 362 is a semi-autobiographical high-speed, swear-filled film
about a likeable and insightful young man struggling to find happiness without
alienating those he cares most about. Rusty (Shawn Hatosy), a
twenty-something in limbo, longs to return to his birthplace, Texas, to
"cowboy-it-up." (He and his mom moved to Los Angeles after
his dad died in a rodeo accident.) Rusty knows his life is going nowhere
in LA, but his devotion both to his mother (Kelly Lynch), also his best friend,
and his hustler pal, ironically named Dallas, is holding him back. Dallas,
played by the film’s director/writer Scott Caan, is a bad boy who spends his time searching for
shady deals and
money-making scams. The two languish in their frat boy-like apartment
drinking and schmoozing, getting into bar fights and visiting seedy friends
to borrow money.
Jeff Goldblum plays Bob, Rusty's therapist and his mother's boyfriend.
Goldblum clicks with both Hatosy and Lynch on screen. Lynch and Goldblum
exude a genuine exuberance of newfound love, and Hatosy and Goldblum's
scenes are brimming with witty banter. Together, Rusty and Bob smoke pot and ruminate on life.
But perhaps the most intriguing character is Christian, played by Val
Lauren. A cross between Woody Allen and
Jonathan Silverman, Christian is Dallas and Rusty's deadbeat, nebbishy
friend. He's like a train wreck - he's a mess, but you want to see more. A
gambler who touts a clunky gold Star of David on a chain around his neck,
Christian is just one of several non-offensive stereotyped characters in
Rusty and Dallas' lives. There's Bear (Heavy D), the tough African-American
gangster; Ruben (Freddy Rodríquez), the slimy Latino roofer turned robber;
and pothead Peg (Selma Blair), Christian's perpetually stoned girlfriend.
But the stereotypes work; they're humorous, not forced. And with songs from
Cymande, the Von Bondies, Blues Saraceno, Queens of the Stone Age, The
Stooges, and Taj Mahal, the film also puts out a great, eclectic soundtrack. Deborah Lynn Blumberg
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