American Fork (2007)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Chris Bowman

Writers:

Hubbel Palmer (screenplay)
Hubbel Palmer (story)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

The life and times of Tracy Orbison, a grocery clerk with the mind of a dreamer, the soul of a poet and the body of a really fat man.

Plot:

At nearly 400 pounds, Tracy Orbison (Hubbel Palmer) is a wide target. When he sets out to pursue his dream of acting...

Awards:

6 wins

Cast

Hubbel Palmer	...	Tracy Orbison
William Baldwin	...	Truman Hope
Mary Lynn Rajskub	...	Peggy Orbison
Kathleen Quinlan	...	Agnes Orbison
Bruce McGill	...	Mr. Grigoratus
Vincent Caso	...	Kendis Cooley
Nick Lashaway	...	Shawn
Rae Ritke	...	Helen
Scott Lincoln	...	Lyle
Micaela Nelligan	...	Laverne
Tarren McGray	...	Steve
Janet Varney	...	Joleen
Miki Eto	...	Hsao-Wei
Guangze Zhu	...	Mr. Wong
Bruce Abbott	...	Captain Atticus

Runtime:

USA:84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Utah, USA

Company:

Alkaline Industries

Quotes:

Tracy Orbison: Is this video appropriate for minors?
Video Store Clerk: It's been banned in seven states.

Soundtrack:

Wong Way

Funny, original story with some great scenes

I saw this at the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, Michigan.

Tracy Orbinson (Hubbel Palmer) is an overweight grocery store worker who has dreams of becoming an actor. He takes acting classes and is greatly impressed by his acting teacher Truman Hope (William Baldwin). Along the way he befriends a group of teenagers and tries to reform them from their rowdy ways. The film is filled with a lot of entertaining scenes and funny moments, it's a good and fun movie.

I loved the first half of the movie, it was very funny ad great to watch. But I felt it lost some of its wit and comedy when the teenagers and Hubbel concocted a plan regarding the grocery store, and the film never really recovered after it. It still had some charm in the second half, but it started to become a comedy/drama, and I would have preferred the film to be a consistent comedy.

Directed by Chris Bowman and written and starring Hubble Palmer, it's a worthy effort. The first half is great, and the ending also has the same flare as the beginning of the film. Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, actress Mary Lynn Rajskub, and producer Jeremy Coon were at the film festival and had some funny stories to tell about the making of the film. They were a nice group of people and obviously had a great time making the film.