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Krista Allen with Bill Page |
Accountant Richard (Bill Page) has just turned 40, and the midlife
crisis is catching up with him: Suddenly family life does no longer
fulfill him and he feels misunderstood and underappreciated by his wife
(Tracy Toth) and kids (Charlie McDermott, Kristen Hughes) as well as by
his boss (Erin Brown) who he thinks is supposed to be his secretary.
As a result, Richard starts having daydreams, daydreams about being a
professional wrestler, a rockstar, or even receiving a spanking from his
boss and the like, with the small difference to normal daydreams that he
really lives his daydreams, and once they are over they often leave him in
embarrassing situations (never more so than when he strips while taking a
bumper car ride). And since his daydreams start being a problem, he starts
consulting a psychologist, Doctor Sarah (Krista Allen), who helps him
piecing together the reasons that led to his daydreams taking over: When
he during an amusement park visit on his birthday meets Ava (Rebecca Cook)
again, who was his first love 20 years ago (when she was played by Kristen
Hermes and he by Joe Aniska) when he was still full of ambition and an
aspiring rockstar and wrestler for real. And Richard and Doc Sarah also
work out the one thing all of his daydreams have in common - a mysterious
blonde whom Richard never seems to be able to catch up with -, and who
might be the key to his problems' solutions.
Needless to say, Richard and Sarah ultimately work out who the blonde
actually is (which I won't give away here), and indeed this helps him get
over his problems ...
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Erin Brown with Bill Page |
A welcome change to all the mindless gross-out comedies that have been
flooding the cinemas of late: An intelligent film at heart that
nevertheless never forgets to entertain, that does not shy away from a
silly scene every now and again (first and foremost the bumper car strip)
but puts its emphasis on plot (rather than the plot being a mere hanger
for a handful of sight gags) and character development. And the film
actually takes its subject matter (psychoanalysis) seriously without
becoming preachy or (yet worse) boring. Plus, the film's co-creator and
lead proves to be a great asset: Without being a flat parody, he looks the
role of the 40-year old accountant in a midlife crisis so amazingly well
it's almost frightening.
One just wishes that more intelligent comedies like this would be made.
Recommended.
PS: At the time of this writing (April 2008), All Along is
making a successful run at the festival circuit and receiving many awards,
including the Audience Choice Award at the Fairhope Film
Festival, Best Romance Feature at the International Digital
Video & HD Festival, Honorable Mention - Best Feature at
the Myrtle Beach International Film Festival, and Best of Show
and Award of Excellence (lead actor: Bill Page) at the Accolade
Film Awards.
Please also read my interview
with Bill Page and my Erin
Brown biography for more info.
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