I watched this film because someone whose opinions I respect told me it was terrible and I needed to see for myself. He was wrong. But not entirely.The acting, camera work, script, locations, sound track etc reflect decent production values and an honest intention on the part of the filmmakers, but on the other hand, the main characters are all pathetic losers (which is not the same as saying the acting is bad, which it isn't).There are some brilliant moments like when Jimmy discovers the dead guy on the sofa (and what he does next), and when we discover just who Steve is cheating with, and when Aaron chases his girlfriend out of the house as she escapes with her friend Carlos. But overall it looks like it's going nowhere...it seems pointless...like the lives of those it portrays.At first I was constantly trying to work out how the 4 threads were supposed to interconnect, but they really don't, not even at the end. It's just a day in the lives of 4 sets of people who happen to know each other and whose lives occasionally cross paths either on purpose or by chance as they go about what they have to do. When I realised that and simply watched it for what it was it got more interesting.Some reviewers have panned it for a 'contrived' final scene. I disagree. We have little clues all through that these characters have all known one another, at least in passing, for years and it should be no surprise that they go to the same parties together.This is not the kind of movie I would normally seek out but I'm glad I did.

Tom Zuber has great credentials in Law but seems to prefer to dabble in the territory of cinema. Having not seen his debut film LANSDOWN (2001) it is difficult to judge from LITTLE ATHENS (2005) if he is improving with age, but looking at LITTLE ATHENS on its own merits it seems a bit sparse in idea and in production.Athens, Arizona is the bleak setting of this day in the lives of some fairly bored (and boring) youngsters, ne're-do-wells attempting to infuse sparkle into an otherwise glitterless place. Zuber creates four story lines, spottily interweaves them, and finally connects the dots in the last reel. The main problem is that comedy is funny because we care about the facilitators and here there really aren't any folks in which to invest. The cast tries hard and succeeds in giving us a taste of life in the flatlands of nothingville. D.J. Qualls (a character type who is very good, as in 'Hustle and Flow'), Michael Pena, John Patrick Amedori, Shawn Hatosi, Tory Kittles, Eric Szmanda, Jorge Garcia, Erica Leerhsen, and Michelle Horn are particularly fine and do their best with the material they are given.Tom Zuber has a style, a sense of non-scripted spontaneity incorporating the gross with the sadsack, and given time he may make a fine little film. This one just misses. Grady Harp

The only thing that saves it are the performances by the many familiar faces that star in it, which were mediocre at best. Would have been nice if there was more of an actual story or point to the thing. Every 10 minutes or so I was saying to myself "Is this going anywhere?"I liked the songs they used (respectively), but I felt most of them to be very intrusive and distracting from the story. Especially that riff with the strings that would play at the beginning or end of almost every scene. And there were some scenes where complete silence would have served so much more to what's going on, for instance when that pizza delivery kid was stealing the rest of those drugs while we watched the dead guy. The music killed that scene.Also, I think the writers/directors have some kind of hostility towards women which is displayed time and time again in this film. The way the women are portrayed is as if they're stupid and clueless as to what's going on. The anal sex scene, the brother pushing his sister to the floor and the girl getting punched towards the end just seemed like a way for these guys to express their own short comings with women, and I viewed it as borderline degrading.And that one actor Jorge Garcia, his random Spanish words mixed with his English dialogue didn't seem to make sense, and I speak Spanish fluently. No one throws in fully conjugated and otherwise unknown Spanish verbs while talking to monolingual white guys.I thought the look was alright. The lighting of the party at night kinda made it hard to look at, but it emulated the real life lighting of a party like that I suppose.So yeah, 5 out of 10 for me. It probably could have been better if they'd gone through a couple more drafts of the script.

Was lucky enough to catch LITTLE ATHENS last night and think we're looking at an exciting young director. The film is constrained by its small budget but punches largely above its weight due to the ingenuity of its Zyber and the talent in the young, and I have to say, hot, cast.To compare it to the Outsiders perhaps puts too much weight on its shoulders and certainly the flavour is very different, but I felt like I was watching the beginning of a new set of burgeoning careers and it was tremendously exciting.If you have seen this film, please add your comments, I'd be very interested to read them.On a final note, the music on this project is phenomenal.(I work in the trade but have no affiliation to this film - to allay the fears of some of the other critics here).But don't listen to what I have to say, see it and make up your own mind.KilledCat