In all honesty, I measured the success of this movie by the fact that I completely lost myself in it. I had so much fun with it that I felt I was an interactive player and I completely forgot to take notes!
So what does that say about this movie? Well, as part of the New Director’s Competition, John Burgess took home first prize in my book. Saying the movie was cute and catchy are true but easy descriptors that fleshed themselves out into a deeper comedic genius, displaying an unfeigned witty banter of charm and intelligence.
While it is easier and easier to assume the predictability of most rom coms (romantic comedies) nowadays, people still flock to the theaters to see them because they anticipate that it will romance them into a version of reality that they long to be true but have no real expectation of achieving as a status in their own lives. In One Small Hitch, it felt like something that could really and truly happen, and not just to the pretty and lucky in the world. With Shane McRae as studly lead, Josh Shiffman, and Aubrey Dollar as his petite partner, Molly Mahoney, it is no wonder that the characters were adorably sexy and supported the sassy wit of the script into a work of brilliance.
To say the movie was Indie through and through would still be an understatement but Burgess wanted to make sure that everything about the film exuded the vulnerability of something new and inexperienced. This included the music which was an open mix of techno-dance and acoustically hipster. The whole package solidified the deal, causing me to give a rousing five out of five stars. I enjoyed it more than a corporate rom com on the mainstream silver screen and would gladly have paid the 10 plus dollars at a theater to see it. In one phrase: Well done, John Burgess! Well done!
