Dark Horse 2011

     Abe is in his mid-thirties, he lives with his parents, he works for his father and he has arrested development.  He’s always blaming everyone else and especially his parents for his failures.  He is a toy collector and he doesn’t like to work.  He meets Miranda at a wedding and asks for her phone number.  He gets up the courage to call and ask her for a date.  She doesn’t remember that she has a date when she gets home from the grocery store?  She’s depressed, heavily medicated, on the rebound from a previous relationship and she lives with her parents too.  Abe stalks Miranda and he doesn't seem to realize that she looks at him like he's a circus performer?

     Reality blurs with illusion but there is no guidebook for sorting them out?  Are the people talking to Abe really there and in the car with him?  I don’t think they are?  The ending is all mixed up?  First, the real/not real people talking and then no clarity?  2 ½* (This movie is so-so)

88 min, Drama directed by Todd Solondz with Justin Bartha, Selma Blair, Melisa Young, Mia Farrow, Zachary Booth, Donna Murphy, Jordan Gelber, Christopher Walken, Tyler Maynard, Mary Joy, Peter McRobbie, Justin Bartha, Di Quon.

Note:  Imdb 5.9 out of 10, 70% critic 41% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3 1/2*, Xan Brooks The Guardian 2* out of 5*, Slant Magazine 1 1/2* out of 4*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Clinton Diner, Maspeth, Queens, Westchester, Bronx, Long Island, New York and Edgewater, New Jersey.  The logo is digitally blurred for the toy store shown in this film but it is clearly a Toys "R" Us.  Mia Farrow was retired but she wanted to do this film because her son was a fan of Todd Solondz's work.  She signed on for the movie without reading the script.  Christopher Walken is wearing a toupee.  Selma Blair's character is essentially the same as her character in Storytelling of 2001.  She was 5 months pregnant during filming.  Gross in the USA $940,430 and estimated budget of $2,000,000.