“Slightly Single in LA” is a banal romantic comedy that has its fair share of problems when it comes to acting and its screenplay. But it’s a low-budget indie film that does make for a good diversion for those who have been searching for love or have been jilted by bad relationships in LA.
TITLE: Slightly Single in LA
FILM RELEASE: 2013
DURATION: 93 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0
COMPANY: Well Go USA Entertainment
RATED: NR
Release Date: September 3, 2013
Directed by Christie Will
Screenplay by Christie Will
Produced by Michael Becker, Jeff Most, Jeff Rice, Alejandro Salomon
Executive Producer: Jenae Altschwager, Jeff Boz, Frederick Cipoletti, Andrew C. Mathews, Mark Morgan, David rusi, Jerry Senatore
Co-Producer: Graham R. Garner, Andrew Hunt
Co-Executive Producer: Shannon Makhanian, Rodrigo Navarro
Associate Producer: Camille Anderson, Pamela Senatore
Music by Michael Tavera
Cinematography by Matt Steinauer
Edited by Danny Saphire
Casting by Pixie Monroe
Production Design by Michael Levinson
Art Direction by Marcel Victor Prefontaine
Costume Design by Nancy Steiner
Starring:
Lacey Chabert as Dale Squire
Jenna Dewan-Tatum as Hallie
Simon Rex as J.P. Cipoletti
Kip Pardue as Zach
Jonathan Bennet as Seven
Haylie Duff as Jull
Mircea Monroe as CeCe
Charlie Bewley as Hayden
Carly Schroeder as Becca
Mercedes Masohn as Stecey
Chris Kattan as Drew
Vivian Bang as Gillian
Moving to LA – it seemed like a good idea at the time. Dale (Lacey Chabert) can’t seem to make things work – at work, with her friends, and definitely not with men.In a city where hype, hookups, and heartbreak are as common as reality shows, it’s hard to find something real. Now she’s caught and in the middle of a love triangle with her best friend (Jenna Dewan) and a guy from her past (Kip Pardue) – a great guy. Maybe the best guy ever. Sometimes, a girl’s just got to take a leap a faith. And with a little luck, maybe Dale’s LA dreams CAN come true.
Filmmaker and writer Christie Will is known for her independent films. From “Dysfunction” (2006), “Boy Toy” (2011) which starred Mircea Monroe and “A Holiday Heist” (2011) which starred Lacey Chabert, for her 2013 film “Slightly Single in LA”, Christie Will reunites with her two female leads in romantic comedy about finding love in Los Angeles.
The film stars Lacey Chabert (“Party of Five”, “Mean Girls”), Jenna Dewan-Tatum (“Step Up”, “American Virgin”), Haylie Duff (“Napoleon Dynamite”, “Material Girls”), Mrcea Monroe (“Change-Up”, “Magic Mike”), Simon Rex (“Scary Movie” films), Kip Pardue (“Remember the Titans”, “The Rules of Attraction”), Jonathan Bennett (“Mean Girls”, “Cheaper by the Dozen 2”) and Chris Kattan (“Saturday Night Live”, “A Night at the Roxbury”).
And now “Slightly Single in LA” will be released on Blu-ray in Sept. 2013 courtesy of Well Go USA Entertainment.
“Slightly Single in LA” revolves around Dale Squire (portrayed by Lacey Chabert), a woman who has not have succeeded with love. Each guy she has dated, has messed around with other women or men and her catching them in the act.
Tired of how her relationships have been, she wants to start over in Los Angeles where she would work in the reality TV industry alongside her friend Seven (portrayed by Jonathan Bennett).
She is dating J.P. Cipoletti (portrayed by Simon Rex) who has a foot fetish and a man she doesn’t know if he’s being faithful to her.
Her good friends Hallie (portrayed by Jenna Dewan-Tatum) and CeCe (portrayed by Mircea Monroe) try to get her to find another guy, possibly her musician friend Zach (portrayed by Kip Pardue), who is the lead vocalist of a band. While her friends tell her to go for Zach, Dale often sees him with another woman and assumes that she is his girlfriend.
Meanwhile, her friend Jill (portrayed Haylie Duff) is engaged to Drew (portrayed by Chris Kattan). While Jill makes her life sound so romantic, in truth, Drew acts as he is not so interested in her. And both are always engaged in fierce arguments.
But while each of her friends go to the club, she catches J.P. with another woman. Upset that her love life has not gotten any better, she does feel a connection with Zach but still feels he is with another woman. Meanwhile, because of not taking action on pursuing Zach, Dale’s friend Hallie begins pursuing him.
Will Lacey eventually find love in Los Angeles?
VIDEO:
“Slightly Single in LA” is presented in 16:9 widescreen (1:85:1).   The film, which was shot in digital and looks good on Blu-ray.
The film is well-lit, skin tones are natural. Didn’t notice any banding or artifact issues during my viewing of the film.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Slightly Single in LA” is presented in English 5.1 and 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio. While dialogue and music is crystal clear, the lossless soundtrack is primarily a center and front-channel driven soundtrack. Which is appropriate for this romantic comedy.
There are no English subtitles.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Slightly Single in LA” comes with the following special features:
- Meet the Director – (13:33) Director Christie Will discusses how she came up with “Slightly Single in LA” and working with the various talents in the film.
- Trailer – (2:19) The theatrical trailer for “Slightly Single in LA”.
Watching “Slightly Single in LA”, it’s important for people to remember it’s a low-budget independent film.
The film has its good and bad, but first, let’s discuss the bad.
The acting was off, the dialogue didn’t seem too natural at times. It has that B-movie flair that is reminiscent of the ’80s or ’90s indie films you would catch on cable late at night. But because I literally grew up watching those films during my college years, I generally tend to see it coming for low-budget indie films.
But typically, that is when there are talents that you have never seen or heard from ever before. For “Slightly Single in LA”, there are talents in the film who are well-known, who have appeared in major films and I suppose I did have a little higher anticipation for the overall acting.
For example, nothing unnerves me more are car scenes in which a driver is carrying a conversation with a friend and they are not looking directly at the road for too long. In Los Angeles, you are continually looking at the road because there is so much traffic.
The interaction between Dale and Seven really seems off at times. CeCe is the stereotypical blonde, Hallie is the sexually-driven person and Jill is your neurotic friend. And look at these characters, you can’t help but think there are similarities to “Sex and the City” but not in a good way. It’s too banal and predictable.
The only thing I would say was not predictable was seeing Chris Kattan’s Drew in a relationship with Haylie Duff’s Jill.
With that being said, having lived in Los Angeles and also having many entertainers as friends, I do see where Christie Will is coming from with the writing.
There is a scene where at a club, people are talking about the various type of people at the club at the old actor who would not date anyone under 25. Interesting is because I have seen those occurrences before and know people like that.
The character of Dale not so prudish but the more genuine person of the bunch was a good touch and for the most part, I found Lacey Chabert in the lead role as well-done, as long as you can dismiss all memory of her on “Party of Five” and realize that Lacey Chabert has definitely grown up since then.
But Chabert was well-cast for the role of Dale, considering the role was originally for Rumer Willis, I personally believe that Chabert was a much better choice.
I did love the interaction between Dale with her friends, while the film could have focused on her relationship with Hallie and CeCe, the addition of Jill as the neurotic friend who wants to get married before she turns 30 is actually a nice touch to the film and shows a different contrast of relationships but also showing friends who are getting married, while others are focused on being single.
The discussion of the casting couch by actor wannabes and the stoner at Zach’s musical performance are interesting touches as I have seen quite often in LA.
So, I found “Slightly Single in LA” to be fun and delightful a few times during the film but unfortunately more moments of spotty acting and writing than I would hope to see for this indie film.
As for the Blu-ray release, picture quality is good, while lossless soundtrack features clear dialogue and music and mostly a center and front-channel driven soundtrack. You also get a single featurette plus a trailer.
Overall, “Slightly Single in LA” is a banal romantic comedy that has its fair share of problems when it comes to acting and its screenplay. But it’s a low-budget indie film that does make for a good diversion for those who have been searching for love or have been jilted by bad relationships in LA.
