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Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival)

Directed by: Michael Mohan
Written by: Anthony Deptula, Stephen Hale and Michael Mohan
Starring: Stephen Hale, Anthony Deptula, Tina Kapousis, Jonathan Shockley and VJ Foster

In stark black and white, “One Too Many Mornings” begins by focusing on Fischer (Stephen Hale), a boxer-shorted little league soccer coach retching his lungs up from one too many big nights. Anthony Deptula as Peter is Fischer’s partner in crime, a sidekick who takes to sleep-deprived driving on open roads to escape girl issues and is willing to declare his dad dead for a day off from work. The two are a match made in mumblecore heaven.

The talent ambles through a tale of loneliness. The two are unsure of themselves and their place in their surroundings, and, while Peter’s arrival provides the impetus for social activity, it is Fischer’s lack of sobriety (and his predisposition to political incorrectness) that creates the most moments of tension. The film questions whether love and place might be the answer to the problems both men face.

The film’s beautiful black-and-white photography by Elisha Christian (arguably the finest feature of the film) harks back to a time when the world moved more slowly, and the film finds itself dragging in reliance on dialogue that is determined to be “clever.” For those willing to persevere, the film eventually catches the viewer in its personalities and pacing. However, the characters are just juvenile enough to evade empathy, and the film’s logline , “a coming of age comedy about two guys who are way too old to be coming of age” , is funnier than the film itself.
 
DVDs ($19.99 with 90 additional behind-the-scenes minutes) and downloads ($9.99 for HD Digital) of the film are being made available the day after the “Too Many Mornings” premiere at Sundance. From the film’s online store (www.onetoomanymornings.com/store/), fans can acquire a piece of the set or a Park City meal for the makers of the film (three feeds were “sold out” at the time of writing this review). Despite the online offering of distribution rights to the film for $100,000, the overall strategy of immediate availability almost guarantees the impossibility of a traditional theatrical release.
 
A following for this film seems more likely to be developed in the counterculture than the mainstream, and the actors involved have some quirky comedy chops that will endear them to fans of wry sarcasm. National attention on the film festival, and an ability for hungry viewers to find the feature for viewing before the fest’s end (no matter where outside Park City they reside), will ensure the unique distribution strategy achieves maximum eyeballs for a film that would otherwise have been lost in the non-commercial shuffle.

Photo by Annie Wildemoser