DVDebut: Sloan Copeland's WET BEHIND THE EARS tracks the young, naive and unemployed

WET BEHIND THE EARS, the new film from NYC-born Sloan Copeland addresses one of U.S. society's more pressing problems -- what to do with the current unemployed-college-graduate generation -- in a light-hearted but never silly fashion, turning it into a pleasant comedy of latter-day manners that also includes romance, criminality and coming-of-age. Certainly not a great film, it succeeds so well mostly due to its dialog and performan-ces, both of which have intelligence and charm to spare.

Mr. Copeland, shown at left, is responsible for both directing the movie and for writing some of that smart dialog, the rest of which is credited to his adorable and talented star, a young lady named Margaret Keane Williams (on poster, above, and below), who turns the leading lady, a recent college grad named Samantha Phelps, into a naive but endearing ball-of-tinder just waiting for the right match to light her up. The match arrives, all right, but not so quickly and from an unex-pected source that leads to further surprises.

One of the most pleasant of those surprises is the attitude the movie and its moviemakers take toward a certain criminal endeavor involving movies themselves. In hard times, all kinds of corners get cut for reasons of survival, and Wet Behind the Ears-- even if it is basically a coming-of-age rom-com -- is not afraid to recognize this. And to treat it as just another step on the road to adulthood.

With no real work experience, our Samantha is finally forced to take a job at an ice cream parlor, while living with her parents and taking flack from her smart-ass older brother (Michael Giese, above).

Working like this, in the small town where you grew up, means bumping into former high school friends (above) and feeling "put down," but Samantha perseveres and finally connects to an old friend named Dean (Doug Roland, below) now working in the "film business," who becomes a kind of mentor, corrupter, and possible romance.

Meanwhile, best friend Vicky (Jessica Piervicenti, below) -- with whom Samantha was supposed to share an apartment once she found a job -- is having major problems at home, finding a proper roommate...

...and at work with a bitchy boss (Angela Jeanneau, below) who likes to make Vicky miserable for the fun of it. All of this is stirred briskly into the plot's pot for some humor, suspense and general good effect.

Every last performance here is energetic and fun, and with a consistent level of decent writing and direction, the movie proves a very easy watch.

Look for Wet Behind the Ears -- from Cinema Libre Studio, running 88 minutes and an audience favorite at second- and third-tier film festivals -- arriving on DVD for sale or rental, this coming Tuesday, July 22. (In about one month, the film will also be available via streaming/VOD sources such as Amazon Instant Video, Hulu and Cinema Libre On Demand.)

Raama Mosley's THE BRASS TEAPOT is a little fable that'll charm the pants off you

Adorable, quirky, smart, sweet, funny and just a little frightening, THE BRASS TEAPOT -- the new movie from first-time/full-length filmmaker Raama Mosley -- is surprisingly original, given its age-old provenance: that evergreen fable about an exotic object that possesses magical powers. What the object is will be no mystery (it's that titular teapot, of course), but its special "power," along with how that power is conjured (one of several surprises the movie has up its sleeve), is something else. And that should remain one of the mysteries you'll only find out by seeing this little gem of a film.

I hope other critics don't give away our teapot's secret because it's such a tasty one, offering all kinds of interesting ramifications about the way we live now. Ms Mosley, shown at right, finds exactly the right tone to set her little fable off and running: a fairy-tale-like take on these current economic-and-unemployed times. Her Jack and Jill are an adorable couple named John and Alice. In these roles, the filmmaker has cast two of our best young performers -- Michael Angarano and Juno Temple -- both working at the top of their talented-and-still-growing abilities.

As newly married and so-in-love youngsters -- in bed, above, and off to work, below -- these two could hardly be more delightful, and part of the filmmaker's challenge is to make them grow and change into not so lovely people who still command our attention, caring and respect.

As in any fable worth its salt, our heroes must learn something about life. And so they do. But Mosley makes the journey so much fun and with so many odd highways and byways that we never grow bored, even if we rather expect what, at last, must happen.

Most enjoyable of all, as often as we see the teapot doing its thing, that operation never grows tiresome due to the increasingly fraught situations this demands. Angarano, above, has a role that suits his "everyman/boy" personality to a tee. (He also possesses one of the cutest asses to be seen on screen in a long while.)

Ms. Temple, above, continues her run of good work in good films -- from Dirty Girl through Killer Joe -- here showing off both her ability and versatility to excellent effect.

Also in the cast are Alia Shawkat, Alexis Bledel, Bobby Moynihan and current hunk-of-hunks Billy Magnussen (shown below, with his director). Everyone does just what is needed to keep the story rolling along, with Mr. Magnussen particularly appealing (to view), nasty (toward our sweet couple) and funny as hell to watch.

The Brass Teapot, from Magnolia Pictures and running 101 minutes, arrives in theaters this Friday, April 5, in New York City at the Cinema Village and West Hollywood at the Sundance Sunset Cinema, having been packing in the couch potatoes during its VOD play over the past month or so. Click here to see any further scheduled playdates and theaters.

"Down" with love: GIRLFRIEND, from Justin Lerner, opens at New York's Quad Cinema

At the beginning of Justin Lerner's new film, GIRLFRIEND, a hard-working mother nearing senior status and her Down Syndrome-afflicted son look up at the stars one night after a long, difficult day. "What would you wish for?" asks mom. "A love affair," he answers. Ooooh, trouble. Because mom is played by that great actress Amanda Plummer, this gives the first few scenes of Lerner's movie enormous weight and veracity. The time is now and the place a rural northeastern community as down on its economic luck as most of of the rest of the U.S., and we enter these sad, deprived lives understanding well what they are currently enduring.

Back in 2007 Mr. Lerner, shown at left, gave us a very well-received, award-winning short film (his fourth), The Replacement Child. Girlfriend is his first full-length feature, and with it he takes us into the mental and physical world of a handicapped young man named Evan (played by an actor with Down Syndrome named Evan Sneider, below), showing us how this character perceives the world, including everything from simple conversation to handling the workplace, friendships and then -- ah, yes -- a love relationship.

If only Mr. Lerner's movie had stuck a little closer to the details of Evan's life, particularly his relationship with his mom. Unfortunately Ms Plummer's character lasts only through the first very few scenes, and when she goes, the movie -- and we -- miss her terribly.

From there on, we're into Evan's relationship with his high school "crush," a very attractive young woman named Candy (played as well as the script permits, by Shannon Woodward, above) and her no-account boyfriend, Russ (essayed with quicksilver mood changes by Jackson Rathbone, below).

These two have a lot of baggage and back story, and all of it is aired to distraction in the course of this 94-minute movie. Not that their story is uninteresting, exactly, but it does get heavily melodramatic and certainly takes away from what we'd like to find out about Evan himself. Oh, he's quite involved with Candy and Russ -- but at the expense of his own story -- whatever else, besides the crush he has on Candy, that there might be of it. And so the movie moves from character study to melodramatic soap opera to would-be thriller and mystery to finally a feel-good forgiveness tale -- with a little something extra for Evan.

The idea that a Down Syndrome young man might feel sexual and romantic urges is in no way out-of-line. In fact, last year we had a very good example of this in the much better Spanish movie, Me too (Yo, también), which detailed the relationship of a Down Syndome fellow with a woman who works with him. That film did not shy away from the romantic or sexual aspect of the relationship, and consequently brought us viewers up short in a way that was salutary and bracing.

Girlfriend appears not to shy away from this either, but then completely caves in when it should be strongest. In what is so far the least successful movie I have seen all year -- The Abduction of Zack Butterfield, a probable camp classic -- the camera chastely turns away away during the "sex" scene, though we get Swan Lake on the sound track. Here, the camera does the same (thankfully without that particular music) when it might be nice, not to mention germane, to see the faces of our "lovers" at this particular and very fraught time. But, no, Mr Lerner cops out. That's his choice, so let's allow him that. But did he have to do it in the most tried and tired manner possible?

The movie, from Elephant Eye Films and Wayne/Lauren Film Company, opens this Friday, July 15, in New York at the Quad Cinema. It will be playing some festivals and other venues in the near future, so click here (then scroll down) to see the current list of playdates.