The Village Barbershop (2008)

[Edgy MD]

Widowed barber, downish and somewhat outish, is forced to take a young woman on as a partner in order to keep his shop open. Despite their odd-couple bickering, they help each other get their respective **** together.

[fimg=550]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/413Cdn5vnKL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg[/fimg]

[Edgy MD]

This was a poorly made film by any measure. But something about it kept me engaged. The lost-souls-making-a-found-family theme is one I usually embrace, as long as there's nothing too forced like bonding-over-booze-and-lipsynching-to-soundtrack-padding. And while this was no Station Agent, John Ratzenberger is always a welcome presence.

It had crater-sized holes in the script where something apparently happened offscreen, but it's only passingly referred to, even if it's a major plot turn, like a few pages got lost in the screenplay, or a few dozen feet of footage got clipped off the reel. It isn't clear how much time is passing, even though there's a pregnant character, which should make a perfect device for such a purpose. The film is from 2008, but technologically, we seem closer to 1994. People use payphones, and find jobs in local classified sheets, and go to the casino to place sports bets.

All weird. Most made-for-TV or Hallmark films are less sloppily executed. I looked up the writer/director and he has almost no other credits as a writer or as a director. The female lead is now retired. It's a wonder this got made, let alone ended up on some streaming platform 16 years later. And yet, I stuck with it in its blandness and sloppiness and obscure indy Americana soundtrack. Maybe I'm just a sucker for this subgenre, and kind of find it interesting to see a town like Reno as a setting for lost souls doomed to wander. But hey, that's Cliff Clavin up there. He's been in Star Wars and he's been in Toy Story and you want to show a little respect when he's moving across your screen.