Director:Scott Caan
When it comes to friends getting older and drifting apart, “it’s a whole thing” as the two main characters in Scott Caan’s feature film debut may say. An impressive performance by Shawn Hatosy that recalls the early work of Chris Penn helps make this film jump from compelling to poignant in his turn as Rusty, a young man in his mid-twenties whose friendship with his fellow hard-living pal Dallas (Scott Caan) is beginning to not only drain on Rusty but may ultimately lead to irreparable harm or even death from their constant bar brawls and hustling as collectors for a local bookie. Rusty’s close and trusting bond with his widowed loving, protective mother Mary (Kelly Lynch) who refers to her son as her best friend leads Rusty to seek psychological counseling from Mary’s boyfriend Bob (a terrific Jeff Goldblum). Bob, a laid back pot-smoking shrink only found in the movies warms to the articulate Rusty whose conflicting promise and loyalty to honorary brother Dallas is tested when Dallas concocts a dangerous scheme to commit robbery with questionable accomplices and very little information.
Although some of the grating characters especially Val Lauren as Christian whom The New York Times referred to as “an odd amalgam of Jerry Lewis and Sal Mineo,” who instead reminded me of Ratso Rizzo does wear on the nerves as do the uncomfortable and never believable exchanges between the young men and the women they pick up, Caan shows immense talent. This is especially evident given his innate understanding of a certain type of male coming of age and trying to live up to the hyper-masculine image of his idolized father (reminiscent perhaps of dad James Caan), knack for male dialogue and creative camera trickery and cool cinematography that earned Scott Caan the Critics Award at the CineVegas International Film Festival and acclaim from the BBC that called Dallas 362 a movie with “heart, wit and sheer class.” When viewed alongside his second film The Dog Problem, film fans will begin to realize that, in addition to the usually tough guy sidekick he plays in films like Brooklyn Rules and the Ocean’s Eleven series, Scott Caan has the makings of a promising writer/director.
