Allguns Allguns A nice and easy comedic drama, or dramatic comedy, with a little touch of romance, delusion and self discovery.Mercer, Lou T. Pucci's character, was well constructed. A little to cliché, but if clichés are something, they are a representation of truth that nobody likes to admit. The loner with serious self-esteem problems, no sexual experience, a crush on the hot/promiscuous young lady, a somehow platonic relation with a less promiscuous lady and at last, not at all least, the goal of a journey. Lou Pucci really got the essence of the part and the viewer falls in love with Mercer, and join literally him in the road trip through America.One of the greatest things in this movie is the journey. The way construct itself as they go, or as we go. There is this goal and that is it. Don't matter what the way or when we will get there, but we keep going until we start to come back. The next lead could send us to anywhere in the whole world and it wouldn't stop us from continue. Mercer would probably find a way to break a minor law and get away with that. On the other hand, how we hoped that the next lead was the final one, so Mercer could come back home? How much we were scared when he lost the car? How devastated we were when he lost Kate, and when he left Kate? It is fatal... When you inside someone's head, there is no way of not caring...Zooey's character for very long, as Wilson, the ball, in Robert Zemeckis' "Castaway", was some kind of bond between Mercer's mind and the public. She was at first just a beautiful voice, evolved as Mercer and ourselves evolved through the movie, acquiring a face, a body, feelings and history. Did she needed all of that to being likable? Not at all... She could be just someone who knew that the car would be back sometime, or someone who just want to know how it would end... Or just someone who didn't give a f*ck about the car! Her background history is shallow, and her motives weak... But is Zooey! And you will love Zooey... Even more after Jena Malone's Joely shows herself as a HUGE b*tch... In this movie Zooey deliver a more realistic character than you can watch in Peyton Reed's "Yes Man", Marc Webb's "500 Days of Summer" or in the TV big hit "New Girl". Her part in this movie actually reminded of her part in Adam Rapp's "Winter Passing"... Well, if you don't count the coke addiction as a key quality of her character in "Winter Passing".The music, mostly M. Ward, capture the atmosphere of the trip. A dusty and winding road, with a couple U-turns and some big rocks on the way as well some odd people and some lessons... And finally growth.To finish. I really liked the direction in the moments of parallel between reality and Mercer's thoughts or memories. Hynes made a very good work in expressing himself artistically. Many directors would not dare to use some low budget special effects, but when used to express a feeling and not just a image, you don't need groundbreaking special effects. You need a camera and feeling to know what to record.

bjnmail I rarely write reviews unless something really catches my attention, which this film absolutely did. I was hesitant at first to watch it, but I decided to anyway. I almost turned it off in the first few minutes, but I waited just a bit longer and was hooked.I believe both Lou Taylor Pucci and Zooey Deschanel gave outstanding performances and made this movie entirely believable. They were easy to connect with and hard not to like. Zooey, although you do not see her most of the movie, really adds depth and mystery to the movie. She seems to have that quality about her.The plot was addicting and perfectly executed. There were many quirky moments, some of them almost stupid, that really livened up the scene when needed. I don't feel I need to get into the plot in detail. All I have left to say is you won't be disappointed.

TxMike Lou Taylor Pucci is Mercer, 19, but still in high school because he had to drop out for a year. His mother had recently died, leaving him alone with no father, and his only brother, 18 years older than him, had not been heard from in a while. One day he finally arrives at a plan for his mother's ashes. He would go to Reno and get his brother, then both of them would drive to southern Louisiana where their mother grew up and scatter her ashes. A simple plan that was far from simple to execute. The movie is about Mercer's quest to finalize his mother's death.Zooey Deschanel is Kate, 24, and in a rare good mood for someone whose car was just stolen. Hers just happens to be to one Mercer picked at the car wash to make his journey. He isn't a thief, he will give the car back, but he didn't know what else to do.Jena Malone is Joely, the "hot" girl that Mercer knew a few years back when they were much younger. She lives near where Mercer thinks his brother is and hooking up with her provides a few laughs.But the movie is not a comedy. It is a sincere study of a young man dedicated to preserving something positive from his mother's memory. Certain inventive techniques are used. In one scene, where Mercer was talking to Kate back home via her cell phone which had been left in the car, "Kate" appears as if she is in the back seat, wearing the type of head lamp that miners use to see in dark mine shafts. When she speaks the lamp lights, when Mercer speaks the lamp is off.As plot would have it Mercer's brother was not in Reno where he thought he was. He was not at the next place either. When he finally found him in Mexico, his brother was not very happy to see him. Still Mercer managed to produce a happy ending to this saga. And even picked up a new girlfriend, Kate, in the process.

jmmatt1 Mercer steals a car to track down his loser half-brother only to forge an unrealistic "bond" with the car's owner. Along the way he finds his way through a number of "quirky" encounters that help him appreciate his life and grow.There are some very neat camera tricks and shots, especially how they "show" the phone conversations between Mercer and the woman from whose car is now in his possession. However, much of the film is shot using a poor hand held technique that can dizzy up the audience, something fierce. I too saw this at AFF and walked out due to motion sickness and a general lack of caring about the characters and story. I found this movie to be awfully trite and derivative of other indie dramedies. The script is dreadful as characters react to in random and pointless ways. It read more like a parody of "quirky indie dramadies" than it actually is one. People do not act and talk the way the characters do in this film, the script limps along from improbable scenario to another, helped by weak performances and characters who are never fully realized. Zooey Deschanel comes across as creepy in her initial conversations with Mercer. If this is what makes an indie hit, the movement is clearly losing steam.