User Reviews

I saw this movie at a film festival in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A very gritty and realistic 35mm short. I think this film deserves a wider release in art-house theaters.

I was impressed with the realistic settings and found it disturbingly funny. The cinematography was right on target, and the soundtrack helped propel the story. While some of the performances were not Oscar caliber -- especially in the supporting roles -- one of the stand-out actors was Dan Wervinger as Goldfarb, a crack-addicted driving school instructor.

This black-comedy covered some of the usual ground in social commentary -- class, race, drugs, etc. -- and while the ending seemed slightly contrived and perfunctory, it really couldn't have ended any other way.

Saw this thing in Harrisburg PA at a small festival while I was on Visiting my sister. Other than the ending being a contrived sack of garbage, this film was pretty cool. I can tell it had a cool premise, and probably had a good screenplay, but it looks like the director was hijacked by a band of crappy actors. Actually I should say ACTRESSES. As bad as some of the men were, literally every female in this thing puts about as much emotive thought into their characters as a typical porno film. The two male leads are like cardboard cutouts, and no one really is worth a damn as a thespian until you look at the supporting cast. The two hispanic crack heads are awesome. The Goldfarb character is awesome. What happens to the housing inspector is awesome. There are little snippets of joy in this film spread throughout the train wreck. And just when it really captured my interest, It ended... Then the ending happens and I was like "what the hell was that?" I mean, SO pointless. I can tell this would be a way better film if they would have stretched it out into a feature and lopped off the crappy third act. Oh well. Maybe the director is planning a trilogy like George Lucas.

Viewed in Harrisburg at the Artsfest Film Festival. Free Lunch begins with a seemingly kind act performed by a benign pedestrian. The remaining portion of the film, however, unfolds from innocence to darkness as the same pedestrian and his friend begin a savage game of "lunch roulette," except they're pointing the gun at a business community interested in only a random free lunch obtained by dropping their cards in a fishbowl at a local diner. It is here where the film makes its inciting incident by having the characters steal the lunch cards and randomly choose their victims.

The characters in the film thread into one another's lives like a fine spun web until the main characters meet in the basement of a supposed drug dealer's home. It is here that the film takes on original characteristics of Pulp Fiction, with innocent fun turned into facilitated beatings. I'll say no more as to not spoil the pleasurable viewing, but know ahead of time that this wonderful film was shot on 35mm, carefully planned, cared for by someone who obviously loves what he/she does, edited well, and follows through to the end with a simultaneous soft and disgusting commentary on human nature and fun intentions gone awry. The only minor downfall was the music overlapping with scenes where I preferred to watch rather than listen. See this film!