Based on an assumedly semiautobiographical novel and well-directed by a member of the Coppola filmmaking dynasty Christopher Neil, nephew of Francis Goats centers on Ellis (Graham Phillips, TVs The Good Wife), who leaves the remote Arizona desert home he shares with his trust-fund hippie mom (Vera Farmiga, Safe House) for a prestigious prep school of which his estranged father (Ty Burrell, TVs Modern Family) is a respected alum.
Ellis is sad because ... well, lack of pot, mostly.
Hes also angry at the news hes about to be a brother, but really, his troubles and everyone elses just arent clearly defined.
Still, the cast does well playing such shapeless material, particularly David Duchovny (TVs Californication) as a perpetually stoned pool man whos the closest thing Ellis truly has for a dad; with an unkempt beard often spotted with yogurt and food, its a performance without vanity that deserves more notice, even if the movie may not. Rod Lott
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