Best movie of this year hands down!

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I'm taking time to write a review due to the quality of the performances given by the actors in this movie. I just watched it on Netflix. The description says "Starring Julia Stiles, David Koechner, Michael Cera". That isn't accurate. Cera is in two scenes and Stiles' appearance is even shorter. IMDb says the budget was $1 million, so there is no way they could afford to pay the salaries those names would command as stars.The real stars of the movie were Meredith Hanger and Matt Walsh. Matt is a character actor who has been in countless TV shows and movies. Meredith is an up and comer who got her start in soap operas. The characters they and the rest of the cast create are what really make the movie work. In that sense it's similar to "Napoleon Dynamite". If a fan of the movie is asked, "What is 'Naopleon Dynamite' about?" The fan wouldn't describe the plot of the move. Instead, the response would be, "Those guys are just funny. You'd just have to watch it to get it."Meredith's "Katelyn" is a naive young lady who wants nothing more than to be famous. Does she want to be a pop singer? Or a movie star? Or the host of a TV show? It doesn't matter. She just wants to be a celebrity. Unfortunately she doesn't seem to have the talent or the resourcefulness to become one.Matt's "Dave" is as equally clueless as his daughter, Katelyn. Dave sees himself as the last bastion standing for freedom and liberty against the tyranny of his small town mayor and her evil henchmen called city councilmen. To see how this develops and affects his daughter you're going to have to watch the movie. Another reviewer stated the movie has too many unnecessary scenes. I have to agree with that. It's probably my biggest gripe of the film. The writer/director would have done himself a favor if he had brought in a second party to give him ideas on the storyline and/or editing of the movie to make the movie flow more smoothly by getting rid of the superfluous scenes or dialog. Aside from the acting I appreciated the message it sent about today's impact of social media. Never before has Andy Warhol's quote about everyone getting 15 minutes of fame been more true. It's shown in a comedic light, but you can honestly see how ridiculous it is for people like the Kardashians to be famous for no reason, or how the public can try and convict someone after watching a 90 second video on YouTube.Overall its a quirky, independent film that will appeal to those who appreciate subtle comedy provided by talented actors creating over the top characters.

I wasn't sure about going ahead and watching this one, but upon seeing that David Cross directed it my interest was piqued. In particular someone who would like to examine the nature of our social-media driven culture consciousness, ready to laugh at the absurdity of it all, should give it a shot.What Cross has achieved with his film is a funny, well-cast and multi-layered story that makes up for what it lacks with well developed characters, excellent acting from all cast members, and a completely plausible plot line that very well could be a true story in your hometown.'Hits' makes great fun of skewering demographics of hipsters, rednecks, teenage delusions of grandeur, ordinary small-town Americans, far- right libertarians, stoners, cops and more, and yet all of the characters portrayed in the movie have a refreshing complexity. Each principal character in the movie (excepting perhaps a brutal cop) has some good trait that we see even as we watch them self-destruct or clash with someone or some situation.The pace of the film, the editing and screenplay all could have perhaps been tightened up to spare some screen time, but there are multiple branches in this story to tell and somehow it all gets wrapped up in just enough time. There are plenty of sharp-witted laughs along the way but the real humor lies in the increasingly outrageous sequence of events - the big picture.I recommend it for anyone who suspects that something is amiss in our media consciousness today, and/or wants to see a story about everyday Americans with real, common hopes and dreams all mixed up in an almost-black comedy on the edge of the ludicrous - that same edge being where we find ourselves today!

David Cross released this bunker buster of a movie online for the world to download via torrent. This was purely to ensure maximum distribution. I sincerely hope everyone who ever loved a Comedy makes time to enjoy it. HITS is destined to be a legendary film not just for the way it was released, but for the consistent comedic content. It is an absolutely hilarious look at the world we live in today. The social media references are seamlessly integrated and the writing is impressively current. The manifold characters are outstanding and full of stars. Each character is exceptionally well defined. Usually I hope for 3-4 good characters. The array of unique characters exponentially exceeds expectations like Jim Henson's MUPPETS exceeded the expectations of sock puppets. I almost never beg, but I beg that you see this movie. Reward the fact that an artist has forsaken industry greed to provide the world with a comic masterpiece. No movie is similar, thus no movie compares. This is the easiest movie I've ever tried to rate. It's surely a one in a million 10/10 stars. Do yourself a favor and download or watch online today!Knox D. Alford, III

Sundance London gets underway this weekend with a neat selection of American independent narrative and documentary films that premiered at the US Sundance in Utah. One film we would like to recommend is Hits, the directorial debut of writer, comedian and actor David Cross. Many will best know Cross as the character Tobias Fünke in the American sitcom Arrested Development.Hits provides an amusing vehicle to satirise a number of aspects in modern US society from celebrity wannabe culture to the YouTube generation.The movie is set in a small town in upstate New York where we find Katelyn (Meredith Hagner) a young woman, who spends a lot of time pretending that she is being interviewed by chat show host Ellen. Katelyn, who is obsessed with celebrity and fame spurred on by reading "real life" magazines and watching reality TV, is confident that she has the talent to be a famous pop singer. Katelyn has been offered the chance of having a demo made of her singing if she can find the money and sees this as a guaranteed way to getting on the singing show The Voice.Then there is Katelyn's dad Dave whose main purpose in life outside his normal day job is to attend public council hearings arguing about poor public services and upkeep, potholes and his rights as a citizen under the Constitution. Although Dave is obviously somewhat unhinged he ridiculously becomes part of a huge media circus after a YouTube video is produced portraying him as a notable and worthy small town activist taking on the system.Bewildered by her dad becoming the focus of national media interest Katelyn becomes even more determined to get her demo made giving in to the demands of a stoner guy who has his own studio.It's pretty fun stuff as the laughable hipster activist crew headed by Donovan turn up to help Dave's quest for justice only to find a rival hipster activist 'think tank', news teams and others muscling in with the same idea.Given the easy and seemingly numerous targets for critique in our internet, celebrity obsessed culture there is obviously a lot for the taking and which Cross does manage to nail. How anything stupid can become a YouTube hit, how having no talent of any kind may not be a hindrance in becoming famous, the kind of people who use social media to bluster or do "projects", without much initial fact checking or preliminary research, or undiscerning ranting citizen's who listen to or read too much extremist or hyperbolic media.Along with the obvious targets Cross also manages to weave in little insights of dark and sad nuances of our modern world but always with a touch of humour for good measure. Like hipster Donovan's wife Maddy who seems to be more in love with a kind of consumer's passion for all things cute as much as she is about actually having a kid. There is a funny scene where Donovan and Maddy get supremely weird talking with their young weed dealer-cum-possible surrogate son, a cameo role played by Michael Cera (Juno, Arrested Development, Superbad). There is also a sweet but sad moment when Katelyn muses about how great her dad is but at the same time seemingly aware of how self centered she may be in the relationship. You get the feeling that mass media has made her that way and that the media has a lot to do with stoking the dark underlying views of her father who on the flip side does indeed seem like a stand up dad.So all in all Hits is as much about how the media today is out of control and the type of people and society it is creating – a funny ride definitely worth catching if you can.