I found a gem from the land of “never-heard-of-it’. It’s called ‘New Suit’, and it gets a ‘recommended’ by Moby. ‘New Suit’ is sort of a modern update on ‘The Emperor Has No Clothes’ with a nice Hollywood twist. Our protagonist is Kevin (Jordan Bridges), a writer who can’t get his work read and is basically not taken seriously by ‘Hollywood’ types (think Ted Danson, but as a writer). And so Kevin ends up taking a menial job as an office assistant to a desperate Hollywood producer played by veteran actor Dan Hedaya. Dan does a great job; he really nails that surprised, wide-eyed ‘You looking at me?’ thing he does so well.
Yes, Dan Hedaya, we’re looking at you.
The movie starts as a ‘fish-out-of water’ tale with our writer, Kevin, struggling to find peace with the fact that he cannot get taken seriously while he is surrounded by fakes, liars and phonies. So at lunch one day, when his coworkers are obviously bluffing about having read the hottest script making the rounds that week, he casually mentions this new hottie, called ‘New Suit’ by Jordan Strawberry. Next thing you know, the whole town has read it, loved it; met Jordan, loved Jordan; etc. and so on. Things go from bad to worse for Kevin as every producer in Hollywood wants a copy of this script, which of course does not exist.
One of the fun twists in the film is Marianne, played by Marisa Coughlan. There’s a bit of ‘will they or won’t they’ in there, but Marianne is more than just a love interest for ol’ Kevin. Part of the fun is figuring out just what they are to each other. Marianne has been around the block in Hollywood and is determined to make the best of the situation, whether Kevin is on board or not, leading to some pretty nice comedy and drama. The acting is very good, and the production is solid for an indie film.
‘New Suit’ is available on Netflix streaming. You can view the trailer here.
