Teddy Bears

The ridiculous premise of this goofy little film is one fellow's theory that his mental turmoil will be calmed if he can have sex with his two buddies' girlfriends. As directed by Thomas Beatty and Rebecca Fishman, our 2013 Seattle International Film Festival screening audience traveled through some interesting terrain (we think this was filmed at the Joshua Tree National Park) and ended up at an isolated house in a remote part of southeastern California.

Once there, we listened to psychobabble and watched paint dry. We saw:

• David Krumholtz (Lots of TV) is a schlubby guy with a hangdog attitude. I'm not quite sure why anyone is friends with this fellow. He is certainly as selfish as I ever want to see and I'm not sure a bout of therapeutic sex ("Feel better now?") will improve things much.
• Melanie Lynskey ("Hello I Must Be Going") is his put-upon girlfriend. He has worn her down, so now she resorts to passive aggression.
• Jason Ritter (Lots of TV) seems to be the nicest of their four friends. Our hero's girlfriend shares my opinion...smile...
• Ned Beatty ("Rango" the Mayor's voice) is an old codger who comes by looking for his dog (our hero has befriended and hidden it).

By the way, the film's title is based on a particular variety of cholla cactus found in that area. It looks almost furry.

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Here is a preview provided by SIFF:
http://player.vimeo.com/video/64028118?w=760&h=427
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