Depression: The Movie

Director Henrique Couto wears his heart on his sleeve, and this movie is a valentine to not only the Midwest hamlet of Dayton, Ohio, but also love in just about every one of its messy forms. The four main characters who serve as a backdrop for the stories of this film are, in varying degrees, pathetic, glorious, hopeful, petty, sad and satisfied. Lenny is a mopey, self-centered dope looking for vindication by showing up and spilling his guts to an old high school girlfriend. Bruce has some daddy issues to work on. Bill has to decide if he enjoys inhabiting an emotionless bubble. And George? She's punk as hell and uncomfortably directionless. Some sort-of gratuitous female nudity and interspersed pratfalls keep the pace humming along. Couto welds a deft hand in mixing moments of soul searching with fart jokes and sight gags.