Fortunes

Three 30-something buddies trying to make it in the big city decide on a whim to visit a gypsy fortune-teller; how each man reacts to hearing his "fate" is the plot of this charming dark comedy. From the moment they exit the gypsy's lair, things spin out of control for the trio, especially for a yuppie dad (Arrested Development's Tony Hale in a great role) as he becomes obsessed with the security of his young son.

I don't recall laughing out loud at so many lines in a movie in a long time. The writing is excellent, the actors -- even the minor ones -- do justice to the script, nicely filling out archetypes -- and the film asks some profound questions while managing to entertain. And while the movie boasts its share of stock indie-film characters -- a street tough who happens to be a little person, memorably played by Peter Dinklage ("The Station Agent") and a mentally challenged hillbilly (Shannon Parr) with incestuous leanings -- these touches are far from self- conscious. The film reflects a mainstream sensibility and asks universal questions. See it!

Over the course of a weekend, I started reading Maurice Blanchot's The Space of Literature, had a bad case of flu and writer's block, and then watched this movie. Three states of being, three characters, a few fortune cookies... FORTUNES, the movie, ostensibly offered a great escape: a light/dark comedy, full of boys, beer, a dwarf. Just what I needed to shake French postwar criticism, a stalled novel and other pressing issues into oblivion. Instead, my preoccupations immediately took shape around the characters in the movie… biological and existential angst (Phil), the practical and spiritual perils of being an artist (Lewis) and the empty drive for money and acceptance (James). It was only after the movie was over that James' role as the real artist in the picture—filmmaker himself—became clear to me. The clarity came from re-reading Blanchot's concept, "Noli me leg ere: do not read me." Blanchot says, "No one who has written the work (made the film) can linger close to it. For the work is the very decision which dismisses him, cuts him off, makes of him a survivor without work. He becomes the inert idler upon whom art does not depend." This is James at the end of the film… the only guy of the three who didn't get to sit down in the same space with inspiration (the fortune teller), who, in the end, beats the pavement, effectively homeless (gel-less), glimpsing/misrecognizing inspiration in diner windows… wandering outside the editing booth after the film has been shot, after the work has been written, cut off, a survivor. Bravo FORTUNES!

This movie struck me because of the cast -- particularly Tony Hale ("Arrested Development") and James Urbaniak (who I saw last year in a terrific one-man play in NYC) -- so I rented it and really found myself liking this movie a lot. While it was very funny (warning: it's not over-the-top humor) it also hit on some ideas and thoughts that I think everyone deals with at some point. Though it's clearly a smaller movie, it is very well done and the acting is terrific -- particularly the leads - Hale, Urbaniak, Mike Mcglone and Diana Henry who plays Hale's wife. The music (by Tobin Sprout of the great band Guided by Voices) is really good too. It doesn't seem like enough people have seen this movie and that's kind of a shame because this is one very solid indie sleeper. There are also some pretty interesting "deleted scenes." Check this one out!

I've got to say that I haven't been so sucked in to a film in a long time. Nice work! Definitely worth checking out.

Man - this whole "10 lines minimum deal" stinks. What can I say, I am terse - just like your mom.

Mike McGlone (Brothers McMullen and She's the One, The Bone Collector, Dinner Rush) James Urbaniak (Henry Fool, American Splendor) , Tony Hale (of Fox's new sitcom "Arrested Development") star in this tale of predetermined fate and the power of suggestion. Walking home from a local pub, the three friends decide, on a semi-drunken whim, to visit a fortune teller. Their readings, we soon discover, have managed to touch nerves deep in their psyches and, despite their natural cynicism, at least two of the men find their lives rather instantly and significantly altered by the