First Hit: This film had some promise but its pacing, mediocre story line, and lack of connecting to something tangible let it become less than the promise.
Matthew Broderick plays Ben Singer a guy who seems down, tired of life, and unhappy at how life has presented itself to him.
When we meet him, we see that he smokes a lot of pot, dispassionately works at an office editing scripts, and has little regard for the people he works with. We learn that Ben is an outstanding guitar player and had once created a CD of children songs.
As part of the deal to create this CD he was allowed to create a CD of his more adult songs. The record company indicated that his material was inaccessible and therefore didn't promote the work. Ben has a daughter name Sandra (played by Jodelle Ferland) who lives with her mom and step dad. She seems confused and lonely when she spends time with her unhappy self oriented father.
Ben has a foreign roommate named Ibu (played by Michael K.Williams) who is almost the opposite type person. He's full of life, hope and anticipation that things will go well for him in this new country. Ibu is happy and is also a diabetic.
One day Ben finds Ibu in an extreme diabetic distress status and has an incident which prevents him from getting Ibu to the hospital quickly.
Ibu's sister Khadi (played by Sanaa Lathan) comes to tend to her brother and ends up staying with Ben. As they spend time together, Ben begins to open up and be more engaged with life. He starts to fall in love.
Broderick is OK as this forlorn character but there was something missing in his performance which didn't ring true for me. Maybe it was how easily he appeared to give up, but mostly it was that I didn't see or understand the reasons why he spent most all of his time stoned and in a haze. Lathan is wonderful as Ibu's sister and she fully emanates the joy of her beliefs. Ferland, as Broderick's daughter, was very, very good. I was impressed with her expressions of sadness, confusion, and joy (when she dances with Lathan). However, the overall presentation of mediocre material and direction, both by Joshua Goldin, resulted in a flat unfulfilling film.
Overall: This is a quiet afternoon DVD rental as there is nothing really outstanding to see.