Attleboro Sun Chronicle

MOVIE REVIEW

"Working Stiff" not bad for city native's first try
BY KEN ROSS
SUN CHRONICLE STAFF

You may not associate the word "cute" with a movie about making a pornographic film, but it definitely applies to "Working Stiff," the first feature-length film by Attleboro native Greg Joyce.

The film premiered at the West Newton Cinema in May and will be shown at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Avon Cinema in Providence as part of the Rhode Island International Film Festival.

 Light-hearted comedy

It's a light-hearted comedy about a working stiff named Gene who makes training films for a large company. He suddenly finds himself in desperate straits when the kindly lady who owns his building dies and her son demands Gene and the other residents get their mortgages up to date -- pronto.

Gene needs to come up with $10,000 fast, and ultimately succumbs to the idea of making a porno film at night while shooting a sexual harassment training film during the day. A lot of the slapstick and bawdy humor ensues with daytime-corporate and nighttime-porno worlds colliding.

Sean Vincent Biggins, who grew up in Waltham, is terrific as Gene. If there were a Jerry Seinfeld separated-at-birth contest to be won, Biggins would definitely have a shot.

He bears some facial resemblance to the famous -- and famously rich -- comic and even more of a resemblance in speech and mannerisms.

Biggins carries off with aplomb the everyman, unassuming schlep personality of his character, and he works well with his co-star and love interest in the movie, Maia Tamanakis, who grew up in Westford and attended theater school at Boston College.

In fact, Biggins and Tamanakis succeed in making "Working Stiff" as memorable for its sweet romance as for its lusty hijinks.

 John P. Arnold deserves kudos for his portrayal of the "bad guy" in the film, Gene's overbearing maniacal boss. And Michele Markarian is convincing as the company's morally bankrupt, ethically challenged sexual harassment consultant.

Joyce wrote, directed and produced this film, and deserves a lot of credit for seeing it through from inception to finished product, a process that took him six years.

The premise of the story is a clever one, and would seem a natural to get the attention of a film distributor.

Joyce also scores with the soundtrack for the film, which complements the story nicely, and the technical quality of the final product, which looks anything but a low-budget "indie."

 “Working Stiff" is not without its problems. One that stands out is its need to be funnier. This story is fertile territory for laughter, but too many of the attempts at humor fall flat, and are at times a bit juvenile. Also the film seems to drag toward its end, as the action builds toward a fight scene that doesn't really work.

Still "Working Stiff" does have a likability about it. It' not something you would necessarily take the kids to see (while the sex scenes are not graphic, there's little doubt it would garner an "R" rating from the film industry), it does have an entertaining and feel-good quality about it.

For a first try -- not bad.