Thomas F. Mazziotti's third feature operates under the assumption that sociopaths offer as much entertainment value as potential danger. It's the same assumption that drove Gus Van Sant's superior To Die For, in which Nicole Kidman's provincial weather reporter goes to extremes for a shot at the big time. Both of these stylized films draw, loosely, from actual events. In this case, a 31-year-old known as the Kid (The Carrie Diaries' Jake Robinson) relocates from New Jersey to Upstate New York to break into the newspaper business. The women who run the paper (Jessica Walter, Marilu Henner, and Didi Conn) are happy to welcome the former Eagle Scout into the fold. Unfortunately, these colorful characters disappear completely after their introductory sequence. The 41-year-old Narrator (The Newsroom's Thomas Sadoski), a screenwriter, is more skeptical of the Kid (most of these characters lack proper names). Initially, it looks like jealousy, since he's a sardonic, chain-smoking widower, while the married Kid, who has an unexplained predilection for red pants, comes across as enthusiastic and geeky, but not necessarily harmful. He and his unseen wife study mushrooms and cultivate ducks.
Despite their differences, the Kid believes that he and the Narrator are "on the same wavelength." It's what he says every time they meet, which happens so frequently the Narrator suspects him of stalking. Instead of trying to avoid him, the Narrator asks him out for dinner and peppers him with questions; even sharing the theory that he believes he's a sociopath. The Kid wonders if he isn't one, too, and viewers are likely to share that suspicion, especially after they convince a lonely old man (Austin Pendleton, from Mazziotti's 1998 Charlie Hoboken) to crash his car in order to add some excitement to his life. It lands both perpetrators in the hospital, though it's unclear if the driver makes out okay. While the Narrator recovers at home, his friend (The Invitation's Tammy Blanchard), a fellow newspaper contributor, suggests he keep hanging out with the Kid for material, and so he does, but the Narrator criticizes him the whole time, making it hard to see why the Kid would want to emulate such a humorless scold.
The Narrator theorizes that he gloms on to other people because he doesn't have a personality of his own. Halfway through this semi autobiographical story, Mazziotti breaks the fourth wall to present fictionalized versions of a director (Blood Simple's M. Emmet Walsh) and a screenwriter (Doug Plaut) who offer their assessments before he returns to the action. He ends by suggesting that friendship with a sociopath could serve a therapeutic purpose. The cast hits their marks, and Mazziotti keeps predictability at bay, but it's tough to shake the feeling that it all would've worked better as a short, not least when talented actors like Walter and Gina Gershon, as a barfly, aren't given more time to show what they can do. A strong optional selection.