DAY AT THE BEACH

Selected scenes from the life of Jimmy Hughes, would-be Quentin Tarantino. His home-video crime script, being shot using co-workers from the ravioli factory, is so cheap that it has to go on hiatus when they lose their prop briefcase – but not before a freak accident that sends Jimmy's friend and (rather terrible) lead actor Johnny into agonies of a guilty conscience. Jimmy asks for further trouble by befriending Amy, the sheltered daughter of his vile, violent boss. Furthermore, the ravioli factory has Mafia ties and a mysterious absentee founder. Then, out of nowhere, Johnny demands that they all jump in his unreliable car and go to the beach on Long Island to forget their woes. But the problems are only beginning in actor/director/writer/producer Nick Veronis' multi-hyphenate debut, a crisply-filmed comedy-drama-slacker-thriller with a New York state of mind and a lyrical rhythm that puts you off your guard; lurking around the next corner could be a goon with a blackjack . . . or Bambi. But hey, life's no day at the beach. Or is it? Watch out for falling fishermen.