CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 4/03/09

Room Service

By shyla coen

Florida teenager Danny (Steven Kaplan) sets out to find the perfect prom date with dubious advice from his friend Craig (Brandon Hardesty) and help from his recently divorced parents (William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines).

Bart Got a Room

Brian Hecker (also directed)

We've seen plenty of films where a young man's prom night is presented as an epic ritual, the culmination of the awkward teen years and a passage into manhood. These films usually involve copious amounts of drugs, sex, and nudity, and are squarely aimed at a specific movie-going demographic that would probably have little interest in Bart Got a Room, a low-key, good-natured tale about an average kid in South Florida who becomes obsessed with finding an ideal date to his senior prom.

The kid in question isn't named Bart—the recurring joke in Brian Hecker's script is that the title character is only glimpsed once in the entire film. But Bart is such a nerd that our hero, Danny (Steven Kaplan), can't believe that this loser managed to procure both a date and a hotel room for the prom. Surely if Bart can do it, Danny must have a shot with the cute cheerleader who's always flirting with him, right? Wrong. That is simply Danny's first misstep in what will prove to be a horribly awkward journey to the big night.

The plot is thin, but the film is really about the people who inhabit this sleepy Florida town. Hecker has created distinct voices for his leads and has a great ear for dialogue, particularly with his young characters. Danny could come off as a shallow jerk, but when he explains that he merely wants this special night to be memorable for the rest of his life, we get it. Matters aren't helped by his friend, Craig (Brandon Hardesty), who builds his expectations with remarks like, "What other evening in your whole life is as big? Maybe your wedding. But odds are, that will end in divorce." Also well-rounded is the character of Danny's best friend, Camille, played by Alia Shawkat. In a painfully realistic scene, Camille presents Danny with a note inviting him to the dance. It's phrased precisely the way a teenage girl trying desperately to sound casual would word it.

Hecker proves equally adept at capturing the adult characters. As Danny's father, Ernie, William H. Macy adopts a horribly unflattering afro and continually embarrasses his son, as all parents do to teenage boys, but their bond is never in doubt. When Danny finds himself dateless on prom night, his father rallies to help him, searching everywhere for a date, from Bar Mitzvahs to street corners. In the role of Danny's mother, Beth, Cheryl Hines gets some of the film's best lines, including an exchange where she and Danny barter about her exact age.

Hecker has cited John Hughes and Woody Allen as influences in his writing, but he also warrants comparison to another great scribe who offered a unique insight into relationships—Neil Simon. Like many of Simon's protagonists, Danny is Jewish—though this isn't a major plot point, other than explaining his father's hair—and the film's tone is reminiscent of some of Simon's coming-of-age stories, such as Brighton Beach Memoirs.

Bart Got a Room may ultimately feel a bit predictable—no real new ground is broken over its 80 minutes—but it's also refreshingly straightforward and simple. There is a bit of artificial narration that pops up at the very end—jarring, considering there has been no voiceover up to this point—but aside from that misstep, the script is uniformly solid. In a world where movies seem determined to portray teenagers as nothing but horny, desperate loudmouths, there's something sweetly old-fashioned about a film built around characters rather than gross-out set pieces. Hecker proves he's a scribe to look out for.

Bart Got a Room
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Rated PG-13; 80 min.

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Shyla Coen is an L.A.-based writer, director, and gadabout.



Bart Got a Room courtesy Anchor Bay Entertainment

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