Nearly perfect

Rating: 10/10 (8 September 2006)

I caught this one at Sundance, and while there's a part of me that would like to tell you that my favorite film at that festival was some seriously obscure documentary that you might be able to see someday if it gets picked up on video, just so I might seem that much cooler...no, in fact, it was this wonderfully twisted-but-warm crowd-pleasing comedy that left me most in renewed awe of the joyous power of cinema. This is what we needed as of 2006. The fact that the first-time feature directors needed to work as hard as they did to raise the funds is sadly understandable, because who would have guessed that they could pull something like this off? Fortunately, Fox Searchlight knew a breakout hit when they saw it -- if they hadn't, someone else would have -- and ponied up a no-brainer record investment.
Dear Academy: for your consideration.