Method Fest

Dirt Nap

By ROBERT KOEHLER

An Ensign Prods. presentation. Produced by D.B. Sweeney. Executive producers, George Parra, James Scura. Directed by D.B. Sweeney. Screenplay, Brian Currie, Sweeney.
 
With: John C. McGinley, Paul Hipp, D.B. Sweeney, Moira Kelly, Mark Moses, Janet Jones, Rex Linn, Tanya Mayeux, Ed Harris.
 

Road movie "Dirt Nap" revisits the by now cliched dramedy of middle-age losers trying to find themselves. Utterly drab and desperate for laughs, this is an undistinguished venture for co-writer-director-producer-co-star D.B. Sweeney, who has managed to amass fine fellow thesps like John C. McGinley, Paul Hipp, Moira Kelly and even Ed Harris in a quirky cameo, but has given them little to play with. Cast roster may be enough to score some interest from minor regional fests, but the pic's only commercial prospects lie in insomniac cable-land.

Failed rocker Billy (Sweeney), former pro quarterback Mark (McGinley) and law school dropout Jason (Hipp) decide to hit the road when Jason wins a contest for tickets to a football game in Florida. With Billy's wife (Kelly) cheating on him and Mark's gambling debts getting ugly, they may as well get out of town, but once they do, they behave like overgrown kids or depressive fools. Bids for absurdist comedy fall flat, except for a strange and striking scene with Harris.

Camera (color, DV), Claudio Rocha; editor, Katina Zinner. Reviewed at Method Fest, Los Angeles, April 6, 2006. Running time: 95 MIN.