The film with its excellent leads puts its finger on the pulse of the American dream. The subject is the selling of success to would be musicians, but it reflects all aspects of the truly American confidence game. Pat Healy as Martin and Kene Holliday as Clarence are hired as a team to scout for undiscovered talent for an independent recording label, which is interested in the next big thing. Since "skin in the game" is a mark of seriousness, then the aspiring musicians should be willing to put up some cash to hedge the risks of the recording company: a perfectly reasonable request. The two leads play off each other to create a metaphor of the American dichotomy: liberal secular humanism vs. conservative unbridled capitalism. Certainly a film worth seeing.

This movie is disarmingly good. I first saw it at the Atlanta Film Festival (where it won top honors) and got to participate in a Q&A with the director and one of the producers. He said some of the music performers in the movie answered an actual ad promising record label auditions. Some of them are also legitimate talents who knew they were acting in a movie. Also, his father actually was a "song shark" in the 70s for a bogus company like Great World of Sound. Also, the two leads are amazing. I'm officially watching anything with Pat Healy in it (Just caught In Memory of My Father and loved every minute of it). I'm unsure as to why this didn't take off like Little Miss Sunshine and Napolean Dynamite. I know it premiered at Sundance and got bought. It even has a strong musical element and I feel like Once was a big sensation that year as well. Very puzzling.Regardless, this one outlives the hype --- definitely a must see.

This, I thought, was a satire. It's not...What it is a story about con men who dupe some down on their luck types to steal from those who dare to dream. As such it quite depressing, but somehow it becomes entertainment as well. This fact is due to two actor's excellent performances which bring characters Martin and Clarence to life. Pat Healy and Kene Holiday make this movie and I will, from now on, always know who these guys are. Check them out here and you'll likely be instant fans too. This movie isn't fast paced or wonderfully enjoyable, but is seems real with the right amount of entertainment value to keep you interested. I give it a 7 and a recommendation as such.

A musician talent search company, Great World of Sound (GWS), trains salesmen to go out and find talent. Once found, the deal pressed on the budding musicians is that they have to commit to paying 30% of the costs of producing and distributing CDs. Some of that money is extracted before the artist sets foot in a recording studio. Cash or a check payable to GWS, which also happens to be the initials of the owner. Sounds fishy? You bet it is.The point of this comedy is that the musicians are not the only suckers in this scam; the salesmen are too. The ultimate crooks are the company bosses who close shop and disappear when enough money has been collected. The salesmen are lucky if they get their last paycheck.The performers you see are actual musicians. Eighty percent of them did not know ahead of time that the auditions given in cheap motel rooms were fake. What you see and hear is the real thing. Twenty percent knew they were filmed but did not know what the filmmaker's project was about. Only two of the performers were scripted.There are a lot of auditions. The film comes close to having one too many.Best word play: one of the bosses talks about GWS begin a "conduit for talent". Read "con-duit".