Though marketed as a Sharon Stone thriller, this solemn chamber piece revolves around three men. One evening at work, Gary (Timothy Hutton in ever-present baseball cap) runs into night janitor Bill (Dylan Baker in over-sized spectacles). Gary and Travis (Pruitt Taylor Vince) used to tease Bill, a classical-music enthusiast, in high school. The encounter spurs Gary to reconnect with Travis, with whom he lost touch after the latter was involved in an automobile accident (for which he blames himself). Together, they drink and commiserate over their lonely lives; meanwhile, Gary's neglected wife, Karen (an uncharacteristically disheveled Stone), takes to sulking and shoplifting. Bill becomes preoccupied with his pretty neighbor, Sadie (Stacie Bono), and her abusive relationship (in his dreams, Bill saves Sadie from her attacker). A senseless tragedy forces these isolated individuals to face their fears once and for all. Originally known as When a Man Falls in the Forest, then When a Man Falls, the follow-up to Ryan Eslinger's Madness and Genius moves too slowly to generate suspense, while the characters lack sufficient development for their catharsis to have the desired impact. (An absence of personal touches, like portraits and mementos, contributes an air of artifice.) Despite their efforts, this leaves the actors stranded at times, particularly Baker, whose Bill is too bizarre to inspire much sympathy. Of the leads, Vince makes the best impression--would that Eslinger had concentrated more of the story on his character.

The original title of this bleak film - WHEN A MAN FALLS IN THE FOREST - was inexplicably shortened to the nebulous WHEN A MAN FALLS for the release of the DVD: had the original title been retained, the audience may have been given a clue as to the intended message of the story. This is the second film for 26-year old writer/director Ryan Eslinger and it does suggest that he wants to deal with some existential material, but he has a way to grow into how to make it happen.The lives of three men and a woman are interconnected in the all too common shallow 'relationships' that are a major problem in how our society is working. Bill (Dylan Baker) is a night janitor in a large company, a man who shuts out the boring world with his earphones connected to the great opera classics: he avoids people including those who saunter past him and those whose chaotic lives in the next door apartment distress him. Gary Fields (Timothy Hutton) is a down and out professional man who works in the building that Bill nocturnally keeps tidy, the two 'old high school acquaintances' meeting only because Gary has taken to sleeping in the office. Gary's wife Karen (Sharon Stone, without makeup and looking spent and used) has lost all feeling for living, detests Gary, and finds her only joy is in shoplifting. Gary has shut himself off from old friends for reasons that seem to be related to an accident that involved is best friend Travis (Pruitt Taylor Vince), a man at odds with his own environment. The only apparent connection here is that, once Gary discovers that Bill is a night janitor, Gary and Travis feel guilty that their response to Bill in high school had been one of cruel ridicule. Each of the four main characters wanders aimlessly through a world that has become strange and vindictive and it is only a bizarre incident that throws the quartet into some semblance of meaning. Each person has fallen, but since they are in the midst of a lonely 'forest', has anyone noticed or cared? This could be a study in personal tragedy were it done better, but despite the fine credentials of the actors, the script is so full of holes that character development suffers and what results is not unlike watching an injured bull struggling around a bullfight ring as the crowd attends to the matador et al. Sadly we just don't care about these damaged people, making connection with the film next to impossible. Maybe next film...Grady Harp

There are basically 3 different stories that interconnect, actually two major stories and one minor one but in any case only one of them is actually done decently.The arc involving Bill the Shy guy isn't bad. He's a bit of a stereotype but is charming and the incidents are amusing, if not altogether original. It could have been developed a bit more but then again, it's all been done better elsewhere.The other major arc is a mess. The major problem is that the Timothy Hutton character is way too charismatic and astute to alienate everyone as he had done. I couldn't fathom why Sharon Stone would want to leave him or why his son detests him. Another problem is the Stone character - we get very little clue about her motivations or problems. There is a hint of a tragedy that took place - but it is never really developed. By that I don't mean that it needs to be explicitly stated, but how it changed the characters was never brought out. And the conclusion - well let's say that it's not implausible only because none of this subplot makes sense anyway.The final arc with Hutton's best friend is too short to add much. It seems like filler. Actually, everything but the Bill story seems like filler.This is yet another of those "indie" films made for Sundance with all the trappings of that genre, the "quirky" (in the 70's it was zany - now it's quirky...) characters and situations and the acoustic Grey's Anatomy soundtrack. Unfortunately, there's little of substance or interest underneath.

The movie that will make all others shine. American Pie becomes an epic artistic accomplishment in comparison. To its credit, somehow it does manage to out-bore watching paint dry, out depress tax return season, and generally is the only movie i can think of that's worse than an hour and a half with your dentist.This must be the worst movie ever made. 1.5 hours of your life are stolen from you with zero interest, humor, plot, story, emotion, or even drab dialog given back in return. How could they make a movie about nothing and just keep going sideways, on and on. I kept waiting for something to happen; a redemption that brilliantly ties it all together. Something to make it worthwhile. Surely the boring, depressing nothingness is like the start of Bolero, that we need hang in there to be amazed with some forthcoming stroke of brilliance tying it together? don't hold your breath, there's no crescendo in this one, the entire movie doesn't rise above a sad whimper.