A Snowy Day in Oakland

A well-written, well-acted ensemble that I didn't guess until the closing credits (that include photos of the characters' prototypes) to be an obvious roman à clef, that added a little depth to what I'd just seen. The only flaw was the direction was a little clunky at times so that the pace flagged here and there. But overall it's a charming film. Last week I watched a documentary on the highly-regarded hit sitcom "Cheers", and A SNOWY DAY IN OAKLAND is not unlike "Cheers," with a cast of characters who all have their flaws, but you like almost all of them anyway, partly because of those flaws. SNOWY, like "Cheers", even has a head-butting couple who seem to still love each other despite their acting otherwise (Sam and Diane in "Cheers") and a chatterbox postal worker who grows on you despite the chatterbox eccentricity (Jeanette in SNOWY, Cliff Clavin in "Cheers").