The Strip

TedFlicks Rating:

$4 ticket on a scale of $0 to $12.50

A CINEMATIC TRIFLE

“The Strip,” a comedy from helmer Jameel Khan, is an amiable waste of time and about as filling as vegetable stir-fry.

Clearly shot on a low budget (estimated at $1.2 million) 91 minute, PG-13 rated pic centers on a few months in the lives of four guys who work at an electronics store in a Chicago area strip mall – hence the title.

There’s the manager (Dave Foley) a sort of 30-something Steve Carell from “The Office” who craves affection, two competent salesmen – 20 something Indian immigrant Avi (Federico Dordei), Kyle (Rodney Scott), son of the franchise owner (Chelcie Ross), and perennial screwup Jeff (Billy Aaron Brown) who lives in a van in the mall parking lot.

There is also a hot-headed actor wannabe who lives with his mom.  Played by Cory Christmas, Rick is a bit of a blowhard with acting school written all over him.  For Rick, the acting school thing works.  For much of the rest of cast it doesn’t.  One can see the seams and stitches in the performances.

Moreover, “The Strip” covers ground that has been plowed to death:  Coming of age, despair vs. ambition, lust vs. guilt, taking the easy way vs. being one’s own man.  It’s almost as if Khan, who also gets writing credit, had ordered the screenplay from a Chinese restaurant menu – one from column A, two from column B.

Not all is lost, however.  Dordei fairly gushes charm.  His arranged marriage is pic’s high point, and the marriage works!  Christmas provides an absurdly comic moment.  He picks up a girl at a bar – punching well above his weight – and takes her home for a romp only to have her wake up the next morning, go to the kitchen, and find his mother fixing breakfast for them with all the aplomb of June Cleaver.  To Christmas’ Rick there is nothing wrong with this picture.  He then asks his mother to drive the girl home.  No second date here.

Pic’s central plotline fails to deliver.  Kyle, whose dad has mapped his future needs to chose between financial security and the goofy blonde with a heart of gold and the patience of a saint.(Jenny Wade).  An angle that could have generated excitement falls flat.

More compelling is the subplot in which Foley’s Glenn becomes involved in a love triangle (telegraphed in advance, unfortunately) between his cheating wife (Gail Rastorfer) and Jeff, the goofy salesman who costs him his job.

Tech credits are adequate.  Nothing special here.  Editing by Peck Prior keeps things moving, but this flick could almost have been cut by the numbers.  It’s that predictable.

Save for a few four-letter words, pic contains nothing objectionable for children.

—30—