MOON POINT (USA 2011) **
Directed by Sean Cisterna

MOON POINT (the name of a place) is an extremely low budget feature made for the paltry sum of $1.25 million that begins a one-week special engagement run at the AMC, Toronto.

The film begins with Darryl’s cocky cousin Lars’ wedding approaching. Darryl (Nick McKinlay) decides that the best way to prove to his family that he is not quite as worthless as they think, is to track down his elementary school crush, Sarah Cherry (Kirsten Gutoskie) - now an obscure B-movie actress shooting a horror film in Moon Point - and bring her to the wedding. Darryl enlists his best friend, known affectionately as Femur (Kyle Mac), and travels hundreds of miles in a wagon hooked onto the back of Femur’s electric wheelchair. But naturally as tends to happen on such a quest, things don’t turn out quite as planned. Along the way, Darryl and his friends get shot at, track a banana to an AA meeting, and are the victims of theft by a karaoke competitor. For a while, it all seems hopeless.

Most of the characters or situations are derived from other notable films.  The lead character resembles NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, and in fact the actor playing Darryl looks somewhat like Napoleon.  Darryl also enters a talent competition (Karaoke) and wins it.  The journey to MOON POINT in the film is undertaken using Femur’s electric wheelchair that travels 5 mph.  This is some what like Mr. Straight’s trip to visit his brother using his electric lawnmower in David Lynch’s THE STRAIGHT STORY.  The story follows clichés paths - two buddies on a trip picking up a girl on a trip; two buddies breaking up and making up again; losers trying to get out of town.  It is also very noticeable that Cisterna tries very hard vying for her audience’s attention.  Except for the main leads, all her characters (Darryl’s cousin, the Karoake weirdo, the film director) are all exceptionally quirky.

Another part of the film’s problem is that most of the incidents happen too conveniently to suit the plot.  The cousin’s bride that does not show up turns out to be someone else in the film too occidental to be believable, for one.  Others include the theft and retrieval of the scrap book and the timing of a surprise party.

The no-name actors fare well in their roles but the scene stealer is Kyle Mac who oozes with charm as the buddy in the wheelchair.

MOON POINT is a worthy little effort that could have cut it if the film was more original.