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Interviews

Tribeca Review: 'Free Samples' Isn't Worth Buying

By Drew Taylor
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April 22, 2012 8:20 AM
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2 Comments

Festivals

For some reason independent movies, especially the current wave of mumble-core with its earthy existentialism and waxy photographic quality, have the reputation of somehow being more “real” or “honest” than movies in the mainstream. Because these smaller movies arrive at some emotional truth more directly, they don’t have to dodge movie stars or CGI monsters. But watching a movie like USC grad Jay Gammill's “Free Samples,” which proudly wears its indie-ness on its sleeve like a badge of honor (when it’s really more of a disfiguring war wound), all you get are feelings of artificiality. It’s so phony and forced and cloying and cute, that you wonder how anyone could misdiagnose a movie like this as being more representative of the human experience than, say, something with werewolves or Tom Cruise.

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 19, 2012 3:03 PM
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1 Comment

News

With the Cannes Film Festival dominating the headlines earlier today, let's not forget that right now in New York City the Tribeca Film Festival is in full swing, offering cinephiles a host of movies making their premieres and beginning their journey through the fest circuit and eventually into theaters. And one of those films is "Free Samples," the feature debut by Jay Gammill starring Jess Weixler and Jesse Eisenberg, with an appearance from the legendary Tippi Hedren.

By Ryan Gowland
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March 28, 2012 8:21 AM
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0 Comments

News

The 11th Tribeca Film Festival is only a few weeks away, and will feature plenty of indie movies vying for audience attention and studio distribution, so credit newcomer director Jay Gammill and Film Market for getting the word out early on their quirky comedy "Free Samples." The film stars Jess Weixler — known most notably for staging a war on penises in Mitchell Lichtenstein's 2007 horror-comedy "Teeth" — as a Stanford law-school dropout who gets stuck working in an ice cream truck for a day and is distracted by every goofy weirdo in town while she tries to figure out what to do with her life. Among those distractions is Jason Ritter (who also worked with Weixler in the 2009 romantic drama "Peter and Vandy") and Jesse Eisenberg, who could be Weixler's love interest in the movie (or could just appear in a handful of scenes).

By Kevin Jagernauth
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December 10, 2010 6:10 AM
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2 Comments

So what do you do to follow up a career best and likely to be Oscar nominated performance? If your name is Jesse Eisenberg, you keep it real by joining an indie comedy.