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Cast: Kurtwood Smith, Richard Edson, Beth Grant
Alice's Diner has been around for 25 years but is down on its luck and Alice wants to retire. Assorted ex-cons, dreamers and schemers call the place home. When Alice plunges into a boiling deep fat fryer, the men in her life fight for control of the diner. Crosses and double crosses ensue until the central question is answered, "What happened to Alice?"
Alice has been running her little diner for 25 years but after a fryer accident she decides she wants to sell the place and retire. When the ex-cons who work for her find out they all scheme against each other in order to try and buy the place off of Alice but the problem is no one has seen her since the accident.
"Hard Scrambled" is a character and dialogue driven drama about several ex-cons and low lives who do their best to out wit each other in order to get hold of Alice's diner. Despite all the drama the film still manages to keep a good pace and the dialogue is smart, funny and at times intense. The film was originally released back in 2006 but it has new life now on DVD and on VOD for the first time ever.
Kurtwood Smith stars as Benno, an ex prize fighter and career criminal who works for Alice as a short cook, Smith has had a lot of memorable roles in his career but I cannot think of any more powerful than his Benno. He is not alone here though because the entire cast was brilliant including, Beth Grant as Alice and Richard Edson as delivery guy Joe who would like nothing more than to buy the diner himself. The story takes place inside the diner which allows for a small set but at the same time that makes the characters, story and dialogue even more important and I can tell you the film delivers on all three.
Each and every character is very important and unique and no one is wasted in the film. The story is amazing, it is engaging, intriguing and smart, it keeps you glued to the screen the entire time and the mystery that surrounds Alice and the diner keeps you wanting more all the way to the end. The film is full of twists and turns as it makes its way to the jaw dropping end.
"Hard Scrambled" is what Independent Cinema is all about, Hollywood just doesn't make films like this any more where the audience has to think and are not spoon fed what is going on. The film is available now on DVD with Special Features that include:
The Making of Hard Scrambled
it is also available on VOD as well. You can order the DVD HERE. I love character studies and I think you will have a hard time finding a better film that does it this well. The most surprising and perhaps the saddest thing about the film is the fact that this is Writer/Director, David Scott Hay's only film. With a writing talent like that I am left puzzled as to why he never did another film. Well at least "Hard Scrambled" is available for everyone to discover because it is a gem that deserves to be seen. I highly recommend this to everyone. It's a hard-hitting drama that will leave you floored by the time the credits begin to roll.
Released by Brink Vision
***** Out Of *****