The good: decent acting performances. A story, however uneventful, that still has nice likeable characters and true to life dialogues.

Photography and sound are good.

The bad: this movie is definitely lacking spark. It's quite difficult to stay involved, because not much is happening. Now you must know that the leading character's life in the movie is stuck as well. So it isnt surprising that this is a slowburning uneventful story as well. Still some pepper and salt is needed dearly, to keep this movie more interesting.

Probably best suited for a patient art house audience.

"Phoenix, Oregon" is midlife crisis dramedy about graphic novelist in which everything - at least at first 20 minutes - screams B-movie, cheap and boring endeavor. It is depressive and non-charming film with the beginning that is dragging quite a lot. Actually, it is 'engaging as watching dough rise'. Skip it.

Loved this film, a little sweet snapshot of how droll the midlife grind can be when you don't have the life you thought you'd have. Great understated performance from James LeGros as Bobby, and the full cast of his friends & associates offer plenty of dramatic layers for his character to engage with. Jesse Borego as Carlos is a breath of fresh air to Bobby's downer moments & his passion for his craft is infectious. I appreciated the fumbled semi romantic thread between Bobby and Tanya too as too often in movies it's all packaged up so neatly the viewer is deprived of seeing the truth when it comes to 'just not the right time' connections. Oh and have to mention Kevin Corrigan's Al, nicely positioned in both character and storyline as Bobby's polar opposite nemesis. Highly recommend but one negative is I almost passed this by thanks to the insipid title. I get the 'Phoenix' connection in the storyline but come on, something a little more thoughtful would be cherry on the top.