Diggers (2006)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is the simple story of 4 friends who are clam diggers, there families were clam diggers for many generations past.The time period is 1976 in a small town in Long Island,N.Y. The people & situations are real, This drama could have taken place anywhere off any Coast,It could be about small fish,.These are people with families trying to make a living & raise there families.Ken Marino wrote the screenplay & has a nice role as well. Katherine Dieckmann directed. It has a cast of mainly featured players in film & Television, Paul Rudd, Maura Tierney, Lauren Ambrose, Ron Eldard. Sara Paulson, Josh Hamilton & Ken Marino are the main players and all are very good. The film is well made,the music is of the period.I liked the movie BUT this could have & should have been better. It is possible if a male directed,it would have been better.One other problem I did have was that even though people did smoke heavily in the l970's,It seemed to be forced & not natural, like the actors were not into smoking.The movie had a very short theatrical run in on under 20 screens in 2007. It did deserve better.Due to its R rating (language & drug use),it is not for children they would be bored as it is too mature for themIt is worthwhile to see, don't expect much,there are a few funny scenes,but this is mainly a drams.Ratings: *** (out of 4) 81 points(out of 100) IMDb 7 (out of 10)

Capturing a bit of Americana, a parcel of life foreign in nature to our own, has offered the opportunity to appreciate the diversity of living and of people in this country populated by ordinary yet extraordinary beings. Films that have focused on little family ventures ('Mystic Pizza'-type films) make us examine our own niche and grow to love variations on a single theme. DIGGERS, as written by Ken Marino (who also stars), is just such a story, a window on the life of clam diggers in the shores off Long Island. Yet as directed by Katherine Dieckmann and acted by a particularly fine cast, DIGGERS addresses the changes that occur in each of us as we progress from teenagers to adults - and all the potentially crippling and thrilling factors that can and do arise.Four friends who dig for clams as their families have done for generations interact on levels of levity and anger, support and misunderstanding, and woven through the background of these four men's lives are the women (and children) who influence them. The apparently disparate men include wannabe photographer Hunt (Paul Rudd), procreator Lozo (Ken Marino), druggie philosopher Cons (Josh Hamilton), and womanizer Jack (Ron Eldard). Their lives intersect on many levels: the women in their lives - Hunt's needy divorced sister Gina (Maura Tierney) who after their father's death falls for Jack, Hunt's 'summer girlfriend' Zoey (Lauren Ambrose), and Lozo's constantly pregnant wife Julie (Sarah Paulson) - and the changes in the entire business of clamming rights as big business steps into the water. How these characters cope with the static that jars their day-to-day existence may seem small in importance to an outsider, but by the end of the film, we 'the outsiders' have grown to know and appreciate and love this little band of fellow beings.The cast displays excellent ensemble acting and while the film has its rough edges, so does the little corner of the world described. It is a quiet little film, all the more beautiful for being so unpretentious. Grady Harp

The reviews were pretty good for this one, and a former girlfriend of mine is in love with Paul Rudd, so that was the main reason I ended up seeing it. It was good...actually writer Ken Marino steals just about every scene that he's in. Lauren Ambrose does a good job, and I always have liked Maura Tierney.Nothing special though. If you are interested in seeing it, then do so. If you're not, I wouldn't be going out of my way for this one.The funniest part (unintentionally, I'm sure) of this movie is in the DVD Special Features, where a film reviewer in Dallas, who is affiliated with HDNet (the film's backer) says something like, "I know my company is affiliated with this movie, but this is honestly the best movie I've seen in the past year or year and a half." Please! It's nowhere near that good! Way to be objective!

I agree with the first reviewer. This movie is way too talky and introspective, and I didn't really care what was happening with the characters. Good performances by Paul Rudd and Ron Eldard. The 1970s setting, its feel and the music are fun. Otherwise, it is a trial getting through this. If you live in New England or have some background in the clam industry, you may enjoy it. In many ways, I found its central premise about the father very annoying. Lauren Ambrose is good, but her portrayal of a hip New York City resident visiting the boonies seemed a little forced. This movie reminded me of "Ice Men" or one of those other male-bonding flicks.