Enjoyable Independent romantic comedy.(SPOILER) This film will appeal most to those who like to root for underdogs.Marcus Thomas is convincing as a untalented novice. One of his best moments comes in a scene with Sean Astin.Patty Duke will double your pleasure. Lovely Amy Smart gives an excellent performance too.This film also pays tribute to those for whom the theater is a labor of love. Although somewhat predictable, this charming story and the characters will "grow on you."

I am almost the nerd guy in his movie. Even though I am a scientist, while in graduate school in the 1960s virtually fell into a student stage production, all 28 performances that ran for 4 weeks. Later, as a young parent, I watched my children in summer community theater productions of such musicals as Wizard of Oz and Sound of Music, while I played trumpet with the stage band in the pit. Community theater in many ways changed my life, opened up a new way of looking at the world. It does that to you.Marcus Thomas, from Belgium, plays Peter Rooker, living and working in Portland, Oregon. By appearances a very boring life. He is a type of 'mister cellophane'. But he notices a poster on his way to work, tryouts for "Cyrano". On a whim he goes, with absolutely no concept of what he was doing (I remember my own such first tryout experience!). He predictably does very poorly, he knows it, everyone else there knows it, but the director saw something, and unreasonably casts him as Cyrano! This sets the stage for all the developments that follow. Any person with a community theater interest surely will enjoy this movie, as will many others who don't share that interest.Others include John Corbett as Michael Degan, experienced actor who gets the part of Christian. Amy Smart as Grace Hargrove, who gets the part of Roxanne. Sean Astin who plays demanding actor Ken Zorbell. And his real life mother Patty Duke who plays dual role of twins, Mrs. Keene and Earlene.SPOILERS FOLLOW. Peter continues to be bad, even though everyone works with him. He just cannot get "into" the role. As opening night nears, reluctantly the director asks Zorbell to be Cyrano, it is the key role in the play. But, in a humorous turn of events Zorbell, having been very difficult, is locked out, Peter makes a last minute entrance as Cyrano, and in full costume transforms himself, he does a great job, and gets many cheers at the curtain call. As the DVD container says, "There are moments in your life that are bigger than you think." Perhaps bigger than the sky.

I will say that I am easily entertained as far as movies go but I know a total crap film when I see one and this film was far from it! I picked this film up on a whim one rainy night in July 2005 because I really liked the actors on the cover--Amy Smart and John Corbett. When I brought it home, my boyfriend and I were delighted to see that the setting was in Portland, OR as we have been fantasizing about moving there. It was a little slow in the beginning but we were pleasantly surprised to see many familiar faces, we really liked the storyline and we both found it moving. By the end of the movie both my bf and I were a bit teary (don't tell him that I mentioned that part)! :) I think that this film is very much worth seeing and I like the fact that it wasn't like every other slick Hollywood film in that it had a lot of character. I highly recommend this film and have already done so to several close friends.

I cannot fathom how 41% of the people who saw this movie rated it a 10. That fact makes me sad to share the same chromosomes as other humans. This is literally the worst movie I've seen in over a year. The acting is great, if you think that playing a guy down on his luck and socially inept should imply probable autism or some other mental disability. After 5 minutes of dialogue, it is clear that this movie is going no where, fast. The dialogue is forced and ridiculous - and as far away from believable as possible. The only reason I saw this movie was because it is based in Portland, where I live. More suitable casting might have entailed the man who played Corky on TV's "Life Goes On." No, I'm serious.