California King: Movie Review

Fun, enjoyable and convoluted.

California King is a well-made indie crime-comedy that has a stellar set-up but gets a little muddled and off the rails in the middle. Our central character is fantastic: Perry (Travis Bennett) manages a mattress chain store in the small town of Nice, California. Perry is smart, friendly and easy-going, maybe too easy-going as he employs his best friend and incompetent moron Wyatt (Jimmy Tatro) and has done nothing for years about his unrequited crush on Lynette (Victoria Justice).		2025 Directed by: Eli Stern Screenplay by: Eli Stern Starring: Travis Bennett, Jimmy Tatro, Victoria Justice, and Joel McHale

A Nice Indian Boy: Movie Review

A funny, joyous, clever spin on the clash-of-cultures rom-com.

Book-ended with two Indian weddings, A Nice Indian Boy is a funny, joyous, semi-clash of cultures rom-com. It’s only partially a clash of cultures, because much to the parents’ confusion and the audience’s amusement, Jay (Jonathan Groff) is essentially Indian. The actor of course is not, but the character is a white American and Indian. Jay was in foster care as a young child and then adopted and raised by two Indian-American parents.		2024 Directed by: Roshan Sethi Screenplay by: Eric Randall, Madhuri Shekar Starring: Karan Soni, Jonathan Groff

Sidelined: The QB and Me: Movie Review

Predictable, cliché, easy, sexy, romance.

Sometimes you just need a comfort romance in your life, hot high school seniors fall in love, and that’s what Sidelined: The QB and Me offers by way of every single rom-com trope possible. This is one of the most cliché and predictable movies you can get, and yet the screenplay has some decent dialogue, the leads have good chemistry, and a notable actor might pop up to lend it some credence.		2025 Directed by: Justin Wu Screenplay by: Cyrstal Ferreiro, Mary Gulino Based on the book by Tay Marley Starring: Siena Agudong, Noah Beck