Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

this movie definitely hits something. it isn't the best movie i've ever seen but its one of the best of its type. it had some really great actors in it, even if most wouldn't agree to that. part of the reason i think this was such a good movie is because it is so real and it is really what goes on in peoples lives in small towns. i'm from a pretty small town and even high school this is what people are doing. its crazy to think that things like this aren't actually as far away from my life as it may seem. the acting in this is great because in some places, even if it may seem as if the acting is crappy, it really isn't. the actors are able to get into the character and let that person take control which is what makes them look and sound like real people and not just actors. i definitely would recommend this to anyone who needs a little dose of reality...if there wasn't so much cussing it would be a good movie to show in health classes when the life units happen...but yeah basically good movie :]

Tom Zuber has great credentials in Law but seems to prefer to dabble in the territory of cinema. Having not seen his debut film LANSDOWN (2001) it is difficult to judge from LITTLE ATHENS (2005) if he is improving with age, but looking at LITTLE ATHENS on its own merits it seems a bit sparse in idea and in production.Athens, Arizona is the bleak setting of this day in the lives of some fairly bored (and boring) youngsters, ne're-do-wells attempting to infuse sparkle into an otherwise glitterless place. Zuber creates four story lines, spottily interweaves them, and finally connects the dots in the last reel. The main problem is that comedy is funny because we care about the facilitators and here there really aren't any folks in which to invest. The cast tries hard and succeeds in giving us a taste of life in the flatlands of nothingville. D.J. Qualls (a character type who is very good, as in 'Hustle and Flow'), Michael Pena, John Patrick Amedori, Shawn Hatosi, Tory Kittles, Eric Szmanda, Jorge Garcia, Erica Leerhsen, and Michelle Horn are particularly fine and do their best with the material they are given.Tom Zuber has a style, a sense of non-scripted spontaneity incorporating the gross with the sadsack, and given time he may make a fine little film. This one just misses. Grady Harp

Not the worst indie film I've ever seen.And it does have it's moments of being funny.Rachel Miner was DECENT as the best friend of Erika leerhsen's character where she's cheating with her cop boyfriend cause she's willing to give him anal sex that he so craves. Then you've got Jorge Garcia who is awesome on Lost but in this film just seem wasted as a character.It was stupid the way he'd speak Spanish words mixed in with mostly English.It's like he's trying to say "I'm Mexican though i look like a fat white dude."And, once again DJ Qualls gives a decent quirky character performance & once again shows why he's one of the truly ugliest actors I've ever seen. Is reminiscent of the party scene in Dazed & Confused but that film is wayyy better. Too dark in parts to see much of what's going on, i feel this film would've been better had they had less characters. ** out of *****

Was lucky enough to catch LITTLE ATHENS last night and think we're looking at an exciting young director. The film is constrained by its small budget but punches largely above its weight due to the ingenuity of its Zyber and the talent in the young, and I have to say, hot, cast.To compare it to the Outsiders perhaps puts too much weight on its shoulders and certainly the flavour is very different, but I felt like I was watching the beginning of a new set of burgeoning careers and it was tremendously exciting.If you have seen this film, please add your comments, I'd be very interested to read them.On a final note, the music on this project is phenomenal.(I work in the trade but have no affiliation to this film - to allay the fears of some of the other critics here).But don't listen to what I have to say, see it and make up your own mind.KilledCat