L. Derek Leonidoff stars as Ron Fervent, a wannabe novelist whose house gets stolen while he’s out of town. With the help of his tabloid writer buddy John (Terry Jernigan), Ron goes out on a quest to get his home back which will take them all the way to Atlantic City, New Jersey. That’s right, baby, it’s road movie time, and you know what that means: lots of musical montages of the two guys driving, quirky situations and wacky supporting characters. Pretty generic stuff, really, but things get more complicated as Ron and John uncover an intricate conspiracy involving a rebel army led by “comic book hot” Devonah (Katherine Poirier), the mysterious Trenchman and Leonardo DiCaprio!
“Moving” was directed by Jonathan Friedman from a script by his brother Matthew and himself. Working with a shoestring budget and a mostly amateur cast, they’ve made a pretty enjoyable little flick, a “Dude, where’s my house?” of sorts. Sure, it’s sometimes clumsily shot and badly lit, and some scenes go on too long as annoying supporting actors desperately strive for laughs. Still, it has a goofy charm, thanks in no small part to Jernigan and Leonidoff. These guys are genuinely funny and likable, and they play well off each other. Leonidoff reminds me of Matthew Perry in fully neurotic and sarcastic Chandler mode, while Jernigan seems to be going for a Stifler or Jack Black vibe.
Reviewing a picture which has yet to score a distributor is a touchy thing. You want to be as honest as you’d be with any movie, but there’s a temptation to go easy on it. I mean, shouldn’t you hold a home-made little flick like “Moving” to a different standard than a big Hollywood movie which benefited from millions of budget dollars and hundreds of crew people? It’s obvious that the Friedman bros put a lot of effort and heart in making their movie, and they deserve all the luck with this and future projects. I’d love to be able to give them high praise in hope that it might help them in some small offhand way. Then again, even them must know that their movie is hardly perfect and that they can (and will) make a tighter, funnier movie. Nonetheless, “Moving” is a fun watch and you should check it out by going to www.whatismoving.com