Humble Pie

Heavyset dreamer Tracy Orbison (screenwriter Hubbel Palmer) lives a life of quiet desperation in this low-key comedy set in a Utah suburb. When he isn't working at Legrand's grocery store, where he reports to manager Mr. Grigoratus (Bruce McGill), he hangs out with his mother, Agnes (Kathleen Quinlan), who nags him about his weight, and his sister, Peggy (Mary Lynn Rajskub), who collects stuffed animals. An amateur poet, Tracy wants to make his mark on the world like local actor Truman Hope (William Baldwin, appropriately hamming it up), so he signs up for Truman's acting class. Feeling inspired after a few lessons, he asks Truman to accompany him to a Rutger Hauer seminar, but the evening is a bust. Truman and Peggy later begin dating (a development that makes more dramatic than logical sense), and Tracy decides to spend more time with the new clerk, Kendis (Vincent Caso), and his punk friends, who end up taking advantage of Tracy's childlike nature in a particularly egregious way. Ultimately, Tracy comes away from the experience with a clearer picture of his true destiny and his real friends. Quirky independent films about overweight schlubs who learn to accept themselves represent a slowly expanding subgenre, and Chris Bowman's Humble Pie slots in fairly neatly between Heavy and The Tao of Steve (which is a compliment, by the way). Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a “making-of” featurette (10 min.), deleted scenes (9 min.), a “Curtain Call” featurette on the cast (7 min.), a “From Script to Screen” featurette (7 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a winning indie film.] (K. Fennessy)