I just now came up with a new Cinematical column: A Flick You Missed. Catchy title, eh? This is where the Cinematical writers will offer up a mini-mini-review (more of a reminder) on a flick that nobody really saw ... but we really liked. The flick that inspired such a simplistic idea? Mike Traeger's The Amateurs (aka The Moguls), which played at a whole bunch of film festivals before landing a (very) limited release late last year. The DVD was released last month by First Look Pictures -- and I liked this goofy little farce a whole damn lot.

Big fan of ensemble comedies are you? Then I'll just toss the cast list out there before offering a brief synopsis and a few random opinions. Ready? (Deep breath) Jeff Bridges, Joe Pantoliano, William Fichtner, Ted Danson, Patrick Fugit, Tim Blake Nelson, Isaiah Washington, Steven Weber, John Hawkes, Brad Henke, Elden Henson, Brad Garrett, Mike Binder. All funny guys -- and every single one of 'em delivers a chuckle or two. Oh, and the women! Lauren Graham, Glenne Headly, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Valerie Perrine, Judy Greer, Eileen Brennan. That's a lot of funny actresses. And with alllll these people on board, Jeff Bridges still anchors the flick with an aw-shucks effortlessness that's ... pure Jeff Bridges.
Written and directed by first-timer Michael Traeger, the thing is a very sweet-natured comedy about a bunch of small-town kooks who decide to make a porno flick. That's it. But despite the R rating (mainly for raunchy dialog) and its potentially seamy premise, the flick is a surprisingly (some come say simplistically) good-natured affair. Traeger likes to put some strangely wise words in the mouths of his bumpkins, and the screenplay often feels like it's shooting for a mixture between Raising Arizona and Clue. (Obviously it's not as good as the Coens' flick.) So toss it into your Netflix queue and tell me if I'm nuts -- The Amateurs isn't exactly an overlooked masterpiece, but I had a really good time with it for 91 minutes. That's more than good enough for me.