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Molly Shannon and Paul Reiser will co-star alongside newcomer Tim Boardman in coming of age dramedy “Miles,” Cranium Entertainment announced Monday. After discovering his recently deceased father had squandered his tuition fund in an illicit affair, a young gay man desperate to get out of his small Illinois farming town joins the girls’ volleyball team to win a college scholarship. Nathan Adloff will direct from a semi-autobiographical script co-written by Adloff and Justin D.M. Palmer. Also Read: TheWrap's 25 Most Anticipated Movies of 2015: From 'Fifty Shades' to 'Star Wars' and 'Spectre' Missi Pyle, Stephen Root, Annie Golden, Romy Rosemont, Yeardley Smith and.

Nate And Margaret

Stars: Tyler Ross, Natalie West, Conor McCahill, Gaby Hoffmann, Charles Solomon Jr., Cliff Chamberlain, Danny Rhodes, Allison Latta | Written by Nathan Adloff, Justin D.M. Palmer | Directed by Nathan Adloff

I assumed upon hearing its title, that Nate and Margaret would be a quirky indie rom-com in which a young couple get together, break up and then get together again, having learnt some valuable life lessons along the way and exchanged some winning one liners, possibly co-starring a comedy dog. I was right on some counts but off the mark on others. Most unfortunately, there’s no comedy dog. Pleasingly though, Nate and Margaret managed to be far less predictable than that and was in fact an enjoyably offbeat tale of friendship.

Nate (Tyler Ross) is a nineteen year old film student who is gay. His unlikely best friend is Margaret (Natalie West), a fifty-two year old spinster...

Chicago – The wider range of films critics see during a single year, the less susceptible they are to the inevitable onslaught of expensive awards campaigns. Just because a studio can bark the loudest doesn’t mean its product has any bite. The majority of Oscar bait I’ve witnessed during the final months of 2012 have been wildly overrated behemoths weighed down in self-importance and executed with all the calculated precision of a undergrad aiming to score an A on the final. What’s lacking from many of these pictures is the spontaneity and imagination of true artistry, and that is precisely what the films on this list have in spades. From the most criminally overlooked blockbusters to the most invaluable indie gems available online, here are the Top Ten Most Overlooked Films of 2012.

10. “Cloud Atlas”

Cloud Atlas

I’ll be the first to admit that Tom Tykwer and the Wachowski...

Chicago – Nothing forms the basis of a friendship quite like a shared understanding. When the hearts and minds of two people are compatible. everything else falls into place. It doesn’t matter if one happens to be a 52-year-old woman and the other is a 19-year-old man. That’s one of the simple truths that “Nate & Margaret” illuminates without drawing too much attention to it.

The ages of Margaret (Natalie West) and Nate (Tyler Ross) are irrelevant. When they’re first seen browsing through a thrift store with a mixture of curiosity and amusement, their chemistry is immediately apparent. It’s clear that they provide each other with a sense of comfort and completeness that they haven’t found with anyone else. Yet as both friends reach pivotal transitional points in their lives, their tight-knit relationship threatens to stunt their growth. Only on their own can Nate and Margaret truly explore their identities as individuals.

Chicago – Few performers are lucky enough to make their big-screen debut in a hit movie, let alone two. In 1989, 7-year-old Gaby Hoffmann starred opposite John Candy and Macaulay Culkin in John Hughes’ “Uncle Buck,” as well as shared the screen with Kevin Costner and Burt Lancaster in Phil Alden Robinson’s Oscar-nominee “Field of Dreams.” Not a bad way to start a career.

Over the following years, Hoffmann has worked with acclaimed filmmakers such as Woody Allen (“Everyone Says I Love You”), Kenneth Lonergan (“You Can Count on Me”) and Todd Solondz (“Life During Wartime”). She’s also made a number of TV appearances, and recently starred on the third season premiere of Louis C.K.’s revered sitcom, “Louie.” Her latest film is the award-winning indie, “Nate & Margaret,” which marks the feature directorial debut of Chicago actor and filmmaker Nathan Adloff. The film centers on an unlikely friendship between a 52-year-old aspiring stand-up comedian,...

Chicago – One of Nathan Adloff’s goals as a filmmaker is mastering the art of the awkward silence. That moment when audiences shift uneasily in their chairs, balancing on the razor’s edge between amusement and agony, appeals greatly to Adloff, a self-professed fan of Christopher Guest and Todd Solondz. His award-winning shorts “Untied Strangers” and “Irregular Fruit” are both squirm-inducing gems.

For his feature directorial debut, “Nate & Margaret,” the Chicago filmmaker made a couple notable departures from his usual work method, the results of which can be seen at the movie’s Chicago premiere June 8th at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Instead of relying heavily on improvisation, Adloff crafted a script with his close writing partner, Justin D.M. Palmer. And though his picture is chockfull of awkward silences—at brutal open mic nights and in tense restaurant altercations—it is also a surprisingly warm-hearted and endearing look at an unconventional friendship.

Director: Nathan Adloff Writers: Nathan Adloff, Justin D.M. Palmer Starring: Natalie West, Tyler Ross, Conor McCahill, Gaby Hoffmann, Charles Solomon Jr., Cliff Chamberlain, Danny Rhodes, Allison Latta, Sadieh Rifai, Shawn Ryan, John Ainsworth Margaret (Natalie West) is a 52-year-old amateur stand-up comedian. Her best friend is Nate (Tyler Ross), a 19-year-old film student. Because of their age difference, one might ask why Nate would choose Margaret as the person he hangs out with the most? Writer-director Nathan Adloff's answer to that question is simply that it does not matter. Of course Adloff is well aware that our society is confounded by spring-winter friendships -- which is sort of the whole point of Nate & Margaret, to show that age does not matter as much as people think. And, really, why does society stipulate that friends must be of the same generation?...