Now for a little change of pace, as most of reviews lately have been horror or genre related. It’s been a while that I’ve reviewed an actual comedy that didn’t deal with anything horror or fantasy related.
“Free Sample” follows Jillian (Jess Weixler), a law school dropout whose life has landed her into endless spiral or boredom and drunken parties. Her best friend (Hailey Feiffer) begs her to work with in a rundown ice cream truck. This job forces Jillian deal with all source of people including oddballs, crazy people and a guy (Jessie Eisenberg) that she may have met before and passed out on. Could find some sort of direction that send out of the state of boredom that she’s in? Jason Ritter (Parenthood) and Trppi Hedren (The Birds) costars in the film.
Every once in a while, I come across an independent film that I never heard of and just loving it. That was the same case with “Free Samples, as this was one of the best independent film that I’ve seen in a while.
Director Jay Gammill does a very good job with the way that he handles his direction. What makes his film work so well was his able to keep the film moving. Whether it’s the way approached each scene of the film to making sure that the action keeps moving in the film’s one setting, it made everything work. That’s what helps makes the direction good, so you’re not worried about the film going off its tracks. The other thing that I liked about direction was the way that he handles his cast. The cast here was very good. What I liked about it was that Gammill is able to make all these supporting characters interesting. He manages to make some of them very quirky and fun to see. This could’ve been eighty minutes of the main character talking to various characters, but he does a very good job making these supporting characters stand out from one another. It help made those characters serve a purpose to the film and make the main character interesting in the process.
Speaking of the acting, you had good supporting performances but at the end of the day the film is as good as the lead performance. Jess Weixler’s performance was very quirky and entertaining. She does a very good job with the way that she approaches this role. It helped made the character excellent to watch. Weixler brings a very sarcastic tone to the way the lines were delivered. By approaching the character that way, it made the material even funnier than it is. It’s something that you need for a film like this.
The screenplay written by Jim Beggarly does a very good job with the way that it balances the comedic and dramatic elements. I liked, the way that he makes his main character insecure with the choices in her life. It helped the development of the main character, as it made her interested instead of her being annoyed about almost everyone she encounters. You needed that with this story considering that most of the story takes place in one area. He also does a very job good creating characters that are both funny and entertaining. The quirkiness to each character were different and they added something to the film. It made some of the film’s scenes funny on the page and very enjoyable for me.
I highly recommend that you check this film out, if you have some spare time. With great direction from Jay Gammill and an excellent performance from Jess Weixler, Free Samples is one of the best independent films of year.
Review Rating: Five Stars.
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