Flakes (2007) NR - 3½ Stars

I thought the concept of this movie was really cute and I am actually surprised someone doesn't have a store like this already. I've always loved the character "Jim" when Christopher Lloyd played in the old series Taxi, so it was nice to see him back on the screen again.

Willie (Christopher Lloyd) an old hippie from the sixties, owns and runs a New Orleans cereal bar. His clients consist of artist, old timers and druggies who need their fix of cereal each morning and to feel like hey belong somewhere. Neal Downs (Aaron Stanford), a struggling musician, is the manager of the restaurant. His career is put on hold in order to serve up his crunchy grains. His girlfriend and room mate Pussy Katz (Zooey Deschanel), is growing restless with Neal as she feels he needs to take time off and finish the CD he has been working on. She offers to work at the restaurant in order for him to take a week off and finish what he started. Instead, Neal hires and fires her to continue with his duties and avoidance of their situation.

When rich kid Stuart (Keir O'Donnell), opens a rival cereal shop directly across the street from Flakes, both his livelihood and his love life will be threatened when Ms. Pussy takes a job there. She is able to add new ideas to Stuart's shop to attract more business. Neal must now decide what's most important in his life and take a risk before it's too late.

IFC Films
Director: Michael Lehmann
Writers: Chris Poché, Karey Kirkpatrick
Producers: Jake Abraham, Mark Ross, Karey Kirkpatrick

I viewed 6/08