Solutions to Nothing

A Kerbside Points of interest discharge of a chilly Iron Pictures presentation an Ambush Entertainment production. Created by Amanda Marshall, Sim Sarna. Executive producer, Matthew Leutwyler. Directed, edited by Matthew Leutwyler. Script, Leutwyler, Gillian Vigman.With: Julie Benz, Dane Prepare, Greg Germann, Zack Gilford, Kali Hawk, Elizabeth Mitchell, Erik Palladino, Barbara Hershey, Miranda Bailey, Vincent Ventresca, Mark Kelly, Tony Denison, Aja Volkman.Following a run of genre films and disappointing lit adaptation "The River Why," author-director Matthew Leutwyler applies to some thing personal with "Solutions to Nothing." Stitching together a quilt of tales including disparate Angelenos within the mode of "Magnolia" and "Short Cuts" and myriad other crisscrossers, this somber drama is well crafted and watchable but lacks the distinctive story content, style and standout performances being greater than a serviceable reboot of familiar ideas. With comedian Dane Prepare toplining and moderate critical support likely, prospects are mild for 12 ,. 2 launch in 12 U.S. metropolitan areas. Home-format potential looks more upbeat. The different strands circle round the highly promoted visit a lately disappeared 10-year-old suburban girl. Mother and father asked a suspicious neighbor (Greg Germann), though audiences will also be brought to question in regards to a creepy schoolteacher (Mark Kelly) who obsesses within the situation whenever he isn't playing fantasy games online. Likewise living alone within the teacher's apartment building is really a cop-in-training (Erik Palladino) coping with their own hidden issues. Prepare plays a counselor who's getting an affair having a wild-child music performer (Aja Volkman, from band Nico Vega) while glumly pulling out from his wife (Elizabeth Mitchell), who frantically wants a young child. He's further soured through the inadequacy of his mother (Barbara Hershey), who still demands his father will return following a decade's abandonment. Meanwhile, among his clients, a TV author (Kali Hawk), embarks on the tentative romance having a seem specialist (Zach Gilford) while fighting the internalized racism she's developed from constantly being the lone African-American in her own fortunate professional and social situations. In the opposite finish from the spectrum, a unemployed retrieved alcoholic (Miranda Bailey) fights for custody of the children of the brother (Vincent Ventresca) who's braindead from any sort of accident she was involved with. Hatched throughout a time of soul-searching the director experienced following a divorce, these figures in crisis maintain interest on the fairly lengthy but well-paced narrative haul. Low-key tenor is sacrificed for 2 climaxes that feel a tad conventional, one a violent conclusion towards the kidnapping mystery, another a triumph-of-human-spirit episode including a marathon. Cast encompassing a number of Leutwyler's regular collaborators is solid, though in reality no principal figures is especially absorbing, supportive or three-dimensional. Pic's episodic character, range of issues, and merely-modest impact will have best around the smallscreen, where its insufficient originality will not appear so conspicuous. Packaging is professional, although the worked up handheld lensing applied by d.p. David Robert Johnson feels inapt of these intimate dramatics.Camera (color, HD-to-35mm), David Robert Johnson music, Craig Richey music supervisor, Michael Becker production designer, Joe Lemmon set decorator, Jennifer Lemmon costume designer, Keri Cruz seem, Eugene Thompson re-recording mixer, Jeremy Grody assistant director, Nick Touhey casting, Michael Testa, Serta Shaner. Examined on DVD, Bay Area, November. 26, 2011. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 124 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com