Latino Review

Such is a day in the life of Evan ‘Pipe’ Piper, drug dealer extraordinaire. Pipe, played by ruggedly handsome 31-year old Jay Mohr (born Jon Mohr, you’ll recognize him from Saturday Night Live(1993-95), Pay it Forward(2000) and Jerry Maguire(1996)), is a demanding, yet emotionally exhausted, successful New York City drug dealer who is looking to get out of the biz and lead a normal wife-house-kids kind of life. He’s tired of the daily grind and the other crap of his profession and yearns for his days of yesteryear when he had the perfect gal-to-bring-home-to-mom in a good relationship that he managed to screw up. Alas, what can Pipe do but continue trudging down his chosen road while cherishing his broken memories and occasionally spying on his lost love without her knowledge (that’s called stalking, but he’s already a drug dealer...so, what the hell...). So Pipe, watched over by his enormous and talented bodyguard/enforcer thug named Roman, flits about the Bronx, Manhattan, and New Jersey (they plan to film in those locales), plying his particular niche of the trade with the owners of various posh dance clubs. Through the ever-present voice-overs, we learn more of pipe’s attitudes, dreams and past. Then, into his life comes mysterious Grace. With the help of Grace, Pipe tries for that one last big deal that will pay well enough to allow him to retire to catch his mundane dreams. In this effort, Pipe, always with friend/thug Roman steadfastly by his side, contacts a former associate of kingpin stature, 55-year old Ozario Kurtz, a powerful and graceful Hungarian crime world figure based out of the west coast. The meeting with Kurtz, played by 53-year old John Ritter (son of Tex Ritter and actor in such hits as Sling Blade(1996), Bride of Chucky(1998), and (of course!) Three’s Company(1977 to end of series)), begins Pipe’s whirlwind odyssey through the rest of the script.

Grace and the Storm reads well through most of the script. However, the parts with pipe, his ex-girl, and ex-girl’s fiancé are, for my own taste, written a little too awkwardly for these parts to properly mesh with the rest of the screenplay; I think this might translate as such onto the big screen as well. And the ending is a little hackneyed in it’s style and presentation, but does have some surprises. Pipe’s frequent voiceovers sprinkled throughout might tend to annoy those viewers who find objection to that kind of crime-drama style. Also, the film is scheduled to begin shooting in New York City and New Jersey in June of this year (2002), yet the casting director, Tim Murphy, and Chappellabe Productions (who?) have not released much info about the movie or it’s cast. The only other known cast members are 49-year old Dean Cameron ( Hi-Life(1998) and Ski School(1991)), who plays a burnt out stoner friend of Pipe’s named Rich Karma (hehe), and 48-year old HOWARD STERN? Hmmm...

Well, the screenplay WAS one of 30 finalists (out of 7000 entries) in the script contest known as Project Greenlight (billed as an online filmmaker’s community, but mostly it’s Miramax and HBO providing access to the filmmaking process and film people) and was written by a guy, Christopher Baldi, from Chappellabe Productions (WHO?)...

And, Jay Mohr, who does good impressions of Christopher Walken and Sean Penn, probably will be able to pull off Pipe’s personality (the writer claims he wrote the part for Mohr)... Hmmm... a whole bunch of comedians playing serious in a crime-drama. We shall see. But Howard Stern???

Well, if YOU want to audition for this one, go to myentertainmentworld.com for details; if you’re comedic enough, maybe they’ll cast you in this serious crime-drama!