Jason (russell) is a successful small-time singer, with paying gigs and a fan base. His buddy paul ( karpovsky) is a struggling standup. So jason takes paul along out on the road as his warm-up act. Paul is just starting out, and has issues with confidence. And reading the room. And doesn't really have a strong routine worked out. He keeps depending on one stupid joke that isn't funny. Of course, they fight over a girl. Several girls. The shenanigans of going on a road tour. Small roles for melanie lynskey (rose, from two and a half men!) and michael ian black. While jason's career is on the upswing, he hasn't gotten his personal life ironed out. It turns out he and paul both have parts of their life that they haven't figured out yet. Turns into a drama. Interesting possible connections: vinny chhibber and mike manning have small roles in the film, and one of the production companies listed here is chhibber mann productions. And... wyatt russell talks about leslie mann on his imdb page. Film written and directed by jeff grace. His one directing gig so far. It's good.

This is a film about a musician and a comedian. The musician is mediocre, at best, and the funny guy is absolutely not funny at all. In fact, he's just about the most tedious pile of humanity you could ever imagine yet someone cast him in this movie. How does that happen? And how is it so impossible to write a few funny lines for an actor playing the role of a comedian? So a character in a film who is supposed to be a stand-up comedian doesn't say a single thing that is even remotely humorous. I was completely flabbergasted.

I came upon this movie quite by accident and a happy accident it was. Although it has all the elements of a run-of-the-mill "on the road" story about down-on-their-luck characters searching for themselves, there is a lot more to this movie, especially given that it's a first one for writer/director Jeff Grace.

As with all such "on the road" genre pieces, this movie is all about the journey, and not the destination - alas, it would have been nice for the director to have worked out the destination with the same subtle ingenuity as he did the journey. Still, it does have hilariously funny bits, especially if one is a fan of Alex Karpovsky's comedic niche (who himself has a couple of indie comedies under his belt). The oddly put together scenes do somehow work; packed with embarassing and socially awkward yet endearing situations, they make the viewer feel genuinely connected to the characters. The individual struggles of the characters are very relatable (especially for the 'Gen X' crowd) and well thought through: the impossible to settle down and commit rock star; the former coat-check girl with a flair for country rock, dealing with her own insecurities; the struggling stand-up comedian set on pursuing his dream while still working on the right way to approach and impress the ladies - the department his friend "folk hero" has no problem in. In spite of all this, "funny guy" still manages to be the unassuming hero of the story. But, will he get the girl in the end?