Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Film

Indie Flicks: 'All That' and much, much less

By STEVE PERSALL
Published December 1, 2005

All That I Need (R) (80 min.) - One of the worst movies ever to reach bay area theaters also has a dubious promotional gimmick going for it. James Hergott's filmmaking debut focuses on suburban Californians reeled into a pyramid scheme led by a hustler without charisma named James (played by Hergott), whom anyone with common sense wouldn't follow through a toll booth.

The movie is framed as a documentary-in-progress as an alibi for the inert drama, uninspired camera work and amateur actors failing at improvisation. We hear James and others endlessly touting the illegal operation to prospective members and witness personal disputes about money or sex - two qualities that shouldn't be this dull on screen - before a repentant fadeout. All That I Need feels like a con job through its sheer incompetence.

But wait, there's more. Hergott's Imperia Films is dangling a tasteless carrot before moviegoers as it opens on 26 screens nationwide. (Regal Cinema Citrus Park 20 is the luckless local venue.) "Contestants" submitting the most ticket stubs for All That I Need allegedly will share 10 percent of the movie's opening weekend profits. They're urged to round up their friends to spend money and likely get nothing in return, not even entertainment. Not exactly a pyramid scheme, but the desperate greed factor is the same.

Details are available at www.allthatineed.net With a movie this bad, the payoff should only reach tens of dollars. F

- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic

[Last modified November 30, 2005, 11:29:06]