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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
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All Critics (23) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (13) | Rotten (10)
Small Time plays out in plodding fashion that seems engineered to keep the audience at arms' length.
Coming-of-age drama delivers some laughs, but loses its way when things gets serious
"Small Time" is agreeably sentimental meat-and-potatoes fare with strong dashes of humor, executed with a sincerity that's hard to resist.
Don't let the title of this indie gem fool you, "Small Time" has humor and heart big time.
"Small Time" has its heart in the right place, but its screenplay's in serious need of a tuneup.
Writer-director Joel Surnow, the co-creator of 24, makes an assured, tangy feature debut with this semi-autobiographical story.
The feature film debut of veteran TV writer Joel Surnow, has little to offer and barely transcends. [Full review in Spanish]
This film combines comedy with melodrama resulting unconvincing and nothing exciting. [Full review in Spanish]
A film that runs out of gas while attempting to be minimally interesting. [Full review in Spanish]
Heartwarming and surprisingly sweet.
Filled with humor and heart, it's an insightful, endearing father/son coming-of-age comedic drama, destined for well-deserved popularity on the DVD shelf.
Small Time is an appropriate title for this period piece dramedy, the type of film whose meandering tone and lack of stakes inform savvy viewers of the fact that it's 'inspired by true events' even without benefit of a credits title card.
This sweet family drama is written and directed by Joel Surnow. Steady, safe, with good dialogues and chemistry between the actors Dean Norris, Bridget Moynahan and Christopher Meloni, it will please you and make you feel good. This is a film that is about people, just an interesting story about seemingly normal folks. The life of Al Klein (Christopher Meloni)-a divorced used car salesman whose ethics are extremely limited to say the least, seems washed away! He and his partner, Ash (Dean Norris), are smart talking car salesmen who will say almost anything to close a sale (and they are very good at what they do). A big change comes to Al, when his son, Freddy (Devon Bostick), graduates, and decides not to go to college at Cal Poly (one of the top schools in the country), and wants to move in with dad and go to work with him selling cars... The smooth screenplay was matched by smooth directing and this wonderful character-driven story presents us with a real character growing in realistic way, with reasonable change. It had it's funny moments, even as a drama. Add it to your list! This film would make an excellent date night. Women seem to really like Meloni and the film has a lot for the guys as well. Intelligent and well worth your time.
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