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Helen Keller Had a Pitbull
USA 2013
produced by Josh Mitchell for Wickid Pissa Films
directed by Josh Mitchell
starring Josh Mitchell, Celine Wallace, Hallie Jordan, Lawrence Bucher, Mindy Robinson, Paxton Morosok, Rey Engelhard, Lindsay Lamb, Richie Santoro, Don Hale, Stephen Brown, Kelsey Lin, Adrian Bustamante, Angie Scott, Josh Thrower, Carla Short, Dan Sutter, Mark Harris, Matt Harris, Maritza Cabrera, Lance Charnow, Libby West, Patrick Pedraza, Derri Dias
written by Josh Mitchell, music by Dan Brown jr
featurette
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Publicist Mike Manning (Josh Mitchell) and his actor girlfriend Kayley
(Celine Wallace) move from Boston to Hollywood, where the real action is
... but right at his launch show, Mike gets screwed over by shady fashion
magazine owner Jack (Lawrence Bucher), who first tries to charge him
unreasonable amounts for an almost-no-show of his protegée, and when Mike
just won't go for it, Jack tries to ruin his business by running negative
publicity on some social network - and there's really nothing Mike can do,
and worse even all his interns quit his company ... and then he learns
Kayley has terminal cancer, too. He buys her a pitbull to make her feel
better, but that of course can't save her - and now the only friend Mike
has is his pitbull - whom some residents try to ban from the
neighbourhood. But when he's really almost down and out, Michelle
(Hallie Jordan), his favourite intern, returns, and she just won't let him
give up until he's had his (creative) revenge on Jack - Kayley's last wish
-, has saved his dog, and has risen back to the top ... Helen
Keller Had a Pitbull is a likeable little film fuelled by Hollywood
gossip and anecdotes and writer/director/star Josh Mitchell's own
experiences (after all, he's a Boston publicist who has moved to
Hollywood) - unfortunately though, the film is little more than likeable:
Basically, despite packing three strong narrative strains (a losing battle
against cancer, having revenge on a sleazy Hollywood type, saving a dog)
into less than 60 minutes, the whole thing lacks any real conflict and
interesting resolution, it just flows along a bit too casually, a bit too
unexcitedly. And this all is mirrored in the character of Mike Manning,
who's basically a man without flaws, whom everybody likes, who always
finds the right thing to say ... - and that his portrayal by Josh Mitchell
himself is as charming as it is doesn't make the character any edgier. Now
that's not to say Helen Keller Had a Pitbull is a bad movie, there
are plenty of funny and plenty of amusing scenes, a few really good
performances, and it does capture its Hollywood atmosphere just right - it
just could have sooo done with a better narrative buildup.
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