Gordon-11 This film tells the story of the residents in a small town, and what they are up to on a certain Saturday afternoon. The day is eventful, and people are all geared up for a big Saturday night.The story revolves mainly about the sheriff, a criminal, an insecure young man and a aspiring country singer. Their life story is told engagingly, and I feel very much for the poor young man who has an overbearing mother. I applaud his courage to do what he does at the end of the film. It is quite surprising to me that a small independent film can have both Chris Pine and Octavia Spencer in it, I don't quite know how the producers get such great talent to star in an independent film like this. Overall, the film is a little plain to me, but I say plain not in a bad way, as the film seems a reasonable portrayal about life in a sleepy small town.

SnoopyStyle Rhett Ryan (Chris Pine) is a car mechanic with Nashville dreams. He is about to move there with his girlfriend (Bre Blair). Only she has second thoughts. She is still tie to police officer Carson (Shawn Christian), the father to her daughter. Meanwhile there are all kinds of characters in this small town of Prospect.This is a slow moving indie for the first half. There are a few too many characters in their mundane lives. It's a boring slog through a lot of nothing scenes. The direction isn't the most exciting. It does improve with the bank robbery.Director/writer Ryan Craig needs to move the plot along quicker. And for a movie about a country singing mechanic, he waited until the end to let Chris Pine sing. He's actually not that bad (unless he was dubbed). I don't understand why he doesn't sing early in the movie. Anything would improve the first half.

Johnny_Hing From reading the reviews, I was expecting the standard, formulaic aspiring singer/songwriter story, loaded with mediocre songs and bad acting. As it turned out, there weren't any songs at all... well, not until the final scene. The acting was very good, IMO, and I especially liked John Hawkes (Donnie) portraying the good ol boy, ex-con troublemaker who really only wants to spend some quality time with his young child, now in the care of his ex and her lover. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, how the characters were related to one another, and their intertwined struggles for existence. No one has it easy in this small town. The mood is rather depressing and melancholy, which for me, is realistic and refreshing. It's a slice of life... nothing over the top or melodramatic. Simple people living routine and somewhat hopeless lives. There are several other story lines apart from Rhett's dilemma about moving to Nashville, and for me, this is what made this movie enjoyable. The signs inside the gas station/repair shop added a nice, down-home feel, as did the down-on-her-luck bar lady willing to turn a trick for 20 bucks.

Hellmant 'SMALL TOWN Saturday NIGHT': Three Stars (Out of Five) Chris Pine (of 'STAR TREK' and 'UNSTOPPABLE' fame) headlines this ensemble piece indie character drama. The film also features performances by Shawn Christian, John Hawkes (who also turned in an impressive performance in this year's 'WINTER'S BONE'), and Bre Blair. It's written and directed by TV director Ryan Craig, who also plays a part in the film. Pine not only acts in the film but also wrote the song 'Someday Came Today' for the movie (and sings).Pine plays Rhett Ryan, a small time country singer / songwriter with dreams of making it in Nashville. Just days before he's supposed to leave the small town of Prospect to follow his dreams his girlfriend (Blair) tells him she's not going with him and has decided that what's best for her daughter might be to stay with her father, Tommy Carson (Christian), the town sheriff. Tommy's brother Donnie (Hawkes) just got out of prison and has came back into town getting himself in more trouble again.The film is well made and the characters are all pretty believable and their drama realistic. The acting is all impressive, especially Pine and Hawkes, and the directing is adequate. The film isn't extremely entertaining or memorable and although the characters are believable it's not especially emotionally involving either but it's not a bad way to pass the time in my opinion. There's definitely nothing in it to really complain about. It's a nice little movie.Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN5KZOE7p28