Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Wow. Just Wow. I was blown away....at the horror of this bad movie. Clunky, crude, and lacking realism. So its artistic I guess. This piece of film festival crap had potential. Mercer our hero(?) steals a car to go tell the older brother he never knew about his moms death 8 months ago. starting off quirky and neat you kinda like it, but like a baby that just won't stop crying its cute but it drags on your nerves. Its a road trip movie in a stolen car, so you see a lot of driving and a oddball 19 year old having what looks like the worst trip of his life. His brother is a thief, liar, cheat, teenage pornographer, and con man. and in the process of finding him he does all those things too, sometimes to the same people. like all teen movies you leave the world behind. don't think such questions as: Where did he get money? with no money how did he get food or gas? what the hell was he doing in Mexico? how did a 19 year old with no money or passport cross the border or book hotel rooms? where did the back pack come from? and if it was her's why was his moms ashes mysteriously in it. why was he not arrested after stealing the car, being found by its owner and disappearing from school and home?if you like hipster crap this is the film you will love. Its bad camera work, clunky plot and hateable characters will warm your heart.

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.

I saw this at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan.Teenager Mercer steals a car and takes off across the wester United States to ease some of his recent personal grief. While driving, he makes an unusual connection with the girl he stole the car from, talking with her on the phone as he travels.Written and directed by Martin Hynes and starring Lou Talor Pucci (Thumbsucker), Zooey Deschanel(Elf), and Jena Malone (Saved!), the film is actually very good. After first viewing it, I wasn't sure what to think about it, I didn't really get much out of it. But now, a few days after seeing it, it's actually stuck with me. There are some great scenes throughout the film. It does drag at some moments, but when the film was over, I looked back and realized without those dragging scenes, it wouldn't have possible to tell some of the next scenes.The acting was great, with this and Thumbsucker, I'm really looking forward to seeing more of Pucci's work. I particularly love the scenes with him on the phone with Zooey, the owner of the car. The two are so perfect together, even though they have never met in person. But the director does a wonderful during those phone scenes, making it more than just two people talking on a phone.The soundtrack is great. Songs from M. Ward, Elliott Smith, The Black Keys, and The Replacements, they all fit in perfectly with the film.The director Martin Hynes was at the festival and he was extremely nice and helpful. I talked to him a lot of over the weekend (I feel kind of bad, I talked to him so much he was probably sick of seeing me). But he one of the nicest guys I've met at the festival over the years. I wish him all the best and am looking forward to seeing his next projects.He had some great stories to tell about the making of the film. One actor in particular managed to get himself cast as three different characters in the film.Search out this film, see it, then spread the word.

I attended the world premiere of "The Go-Getter" at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. I'm not quite sure why, but this year's lineup seems to be heavy on heavy. I like a dark, moody melodrama as much as anybody, but whatever happened to the good old-fashioned road movie? I found the answer with "The Go-Getter." This film is all that and more. One part sweet love story, one part romantic comedy, and one part coming-of-age tale, "The Go-Getter" takes it all on the road and drives home a winning combination that will leave you smiling.Lou Taylor Pucci (Mercer) is a good kid, but one day he decides to chuck his bike and steal a car. I don't like to post spoilers, so I won't divulge more details other than to say that the trip on which he embarks will take him on a journey that would make "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" blush.Like any good road movie, he encounters one motley crew after another, a cast of characters all of whom get him just one step closer to the goal he seeks. But like a treasure hunt whose map takes him to places enticing enough to have him abandon his quest, he needs to keep his wandering eye on the prize. And oh, the temptresses who cause that eye to wander.Jena Malone is Joely, a sultry vixen (quite the change for Ms. Malone) who is determined to pop Mercer's cherry. What a breath of fresh air to see this versatile young actress take on such an empowering role. Women's Lib ain't over yet. Zooey Deschanel is Kate. It's her car he stole. And she is determined to get it back -- or is she? The "indie darling" gets her chance to shine here, and the tension that builds towards a possible reunion of car and owner holds this story together like a rope ties down a trunk when the lock is broken. We're never quite sure if it'll hold.And Lou Taylor Pucci has never been better in his role as the determined yet naive youth whose trusting nature and sense of wonder left me wanting to roll back the years to a time when everything was fresh and new. Pucci's sense of comedic timing and natural delivery is second to none, and while some of his dialog was indeed improvised, I was shocked to learn that the scenes which felt the most unscripted were, in fact, from the pen of writer/director Martin Hynes.In the Q&A after the screening here, I was fascinated to hear that a deliberate attempt was made to cast against type. As each of the three leads has a rabid following, Hynes' script was meant to give each actor's fan base something they had never seen before: Malone as Woman, Deschanel as glamour girl, and Pucci as, well, he got his hair cut, anyway. Hope and Crosby must be smiling at this winning team.M. Ward wrote the score, with original songs that left me wanting more. Licensing source material is pricey for an indie, but who needs hit singles when you have someone as talented as this brilliant composer? What a coup to bring him into this project. Byron Shah shot two films here at Sundance, "An American Crime" (which I saw as well) and "The Go-Getter." That alone says a lot about his eye for capturing this kind of character-driven story so well. Between Shah's photography, David Birdsell's editing, and Hynes' talent for allowing his actors to tell the story, "The Go-Getter" never wanders into pretentious indie territory. It stays accessible, which is why audiences will embrace this film wholeheartedly."The Go-Getter" gets it right. It's warm and funny and sweet, and at this festival of doom and gloom, what a joy it was to travel down this road.