steven kaplan Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I'm happy to say one of the films I was most looking forward to this year actually lived up to my expectations -- and though it's still very early in the festival, Bart Got a Room is easily my personal favorite so far. It's not complex, it's not much different from other nerdy-teen-needs-date-for-prom flicks, but it sure as hell packs a ton of heart and has a lot of fun. It's alive, it's colorful, it's got well-written characters and more than a handful of memorable scenes; if I had to describe this film in one sentence, my pitch would go something like: Picture a contemporary version of Brighton Beach Memoirs if it featured an only child and was set in South Florida. That's Bart Got a Room.

Danny's (Steven Kaplan) a skinny Jewish kid with low self-esteem, eccentric, over-protective parents and no prom date. While he can easily take his best friend Camille (Alia Shawkat), Danny would rather take a girl he might have a romantic chance with. Like the pretty, flirtatious blonde cheerleader he carpools with, or the reserved Asian classmate who writes exotic, pornographic poetry. He'd let his friends set him up with "that girl who sleeps around," he'd throw open the phone book and dial up a girl he hasn't seen in years -- all of which makes Danny a man on a mission. And that mission becomes even more complicated (and important) when Bart, the school's biggest loser, not only secures a prom date ... but also a hotel room. Yup ... even Bart got a room.

One of the films I'm most looking forward to at this year's Tribeca Film Festival is Bart Got a Room, directed by Brian Hecker (in his feature debut) and starring William H. Macy, Cheryl Hines, Steven Kaplan, Alia Shawkat and Jon Polito. Before I go any further -- I'm sorry, but how awesome does Macy look with that haircut? Only he can pull off the White Man's Fro and do it with style (click on the image to enlarge).

Bart Got a Room centers on any teenage kid's worst nightmare: Imagine the school's biggest dweeb not only secured a date for the prom before you, but he also got a hotel room. That's what happened to Danny (Kaplan), and now he's on a desperate quest to find a date while his divorced parents, Beth and Ernie Stein (Hines and Macy) independently search for love. Oh man, a skinny Jewish kid with major prom anxiety and nutty parents. This film will certainly take me back a few years.

We'll have a full review and interview with writer-director Brian Hecker later on this month. Oh, and when a trailer is available, we'll let you know.

It is hard enough being a nerdy kid searching for love. It is doubly hard to be that kid when you know love sucks and rarely works out. I remember being a teen conflicted by the desire for a date and the constant reminder that divorce is the best-case scenario for what that date will lead to. Now it seems Plum Pictures is making the story of my life, in the indie teen comedy Bart Got a Room. According to Variety, the film will star Steven Kaplan as a nerdy kid living with his parents (William H. Macy and Cheryl Hines) in a retirement community in Hollywood, Florida. At the moment in his life when he's seeking love, or at least a prom date, his parents are going through a divorce. Playing his best friend -- and let me guess also his eventual love interest -- is Alia Shawkat, who is best known as "Maeby" from the best television show ever, Arrested Development. The film is the feature debut of writer-director Brian Hecker and it will be produced by Grace is Gone's Celine Rattray, Galt Niederhoffer and Daniela Taplin Lundberg.

I have to point out -- because my mom reads Cinematical -- that my own parents divorced much, much earlier than my teen years, and I wasn't actually completely traumatized nor did the divorce ruin my ability to find love. So, Bart Got a Room will not parallel my life, though I do think I could relate to it anyway. And I'm sure I won't be alone there. The high school years are probably the most formative time in our lives regarding love and relationships, and certainly we look around us, to our parents, friends and relatives for guidance in how to figure it all out. Certainly a failing marriage in the home could have a negative impact on the experience, and I'm sure that's what Hecker is focusing on here. It kinda reminds me of Sixteen Candles, actually, in that it probably deals with a selfish lack of attention on the parents' part. Of course, with great talents like Macy and Hines at the reigns of Bart's family, we'll hopefully see more concentration on the parents in this than in that.