Coyote County Loser (2009)

People are voting emotionally.

As Good As It Gets

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I recently had the opportunity to view Coyote County Loser during one it's recent screenings for it's limited release. A romantic comedy of sorts, it's independent style helps to anchor a nice story and wholesome plot line you never find in normal Hollywood films while still giving you a nice cinematic flavor.The story follows Jack Proctor, a rising LA radio personality, who stumbles upon the dusty town of Coyote County on his way home in the American Southwest. After getting a rise out of local star Lauren Hartford, with her love advice hour, Jack is offered a bit of syndication K-RAP 780 the local studio. In no rush to get home, Jack accepts. While Jack and Lauren begin to duke it out on the air with their own advice to the residents of the town, the two will come to discover while helping others find love, they may end up hurting each other in the process... or finding love themselves.With a predictable yet enjoyable plot line, audiences seemed to have found few moments dull (judging by the laughter). The cast, anchored by an array of television personalities, veteran actors and newcomers, held their ground and entertained. Top-lining the romantic ensemble as Lauren is TV-Guide star Nikki Boyer. Never a falter, Boyer is arguably the most entertaining of the actors with a nice mix of personalities to her character, allowed to by the script. Her co-star Beau Clark brings a nice side to Jack underneath the cockiness. Along with Boyer, the two shine on screen together and created wonderful chemistry for the two characters.Along with Boyer and Clark come veteran actors K Callan and Wayne Grace as The Hopps couple. Easily recognizable, their chemistry on screen seemed to capture a more true essence of love while Jack and Lauren are the more modern day ventures. Callan's kind Maggie is played with small-town subtly while Grace's gentle Fred was a favorite among audiences. Luckily, this is why Coyote County Loser is able to reach out to several different generations.Falling in a love triangle is newcomer Frederic Doss in the role of Lyle. More likely to be seen playing secret agents and cops in recent films and TV shows, the down-on-his-heels Lyle is quite a difference from Doss's usual fare but his gentle performance shows just what a talented actor he is. Rounding out the romantic ensemble are also newcomers Tiffany Lynch and Everette Scott Ortiz as radio workers Katie and Doyle. Given their own nerdy sexual tension but also providing comedic relief to Jack and Lauren's trysts, the two also give the younger side of audiences something to look out for... and hopefully learn from!This was the great part about the script is that you meet several different characters all well-developed. No one is left thinking "Hmm, I wish I could've seen more here or there". The well-roundedness of each persona also helps to bring the fictional town of Coyote County to life and at the same giving it a home-cooked flavor that is very much lacking in today's film productions. With gorgeous cinematography from director of photography Joel Deutsch, showing off the wind-swept landscapes of New Mexico, the colorfulness of the film offers something of a visual aid that helps audiences enjoy the sights more often than not. Producer Jacob Roebuck toiled over to get Coyote County Loser made and finally has become a reality. Certainly not to be passed up, I won't be surprised if we're hearing more from this film than a lot of people are expecting. Audiences are looking for something everyone can see... and hopefully they won't have to look any further.

Don't start watching Coyote County Loser expecting realism. For starters, the entire county seems to consist of about 30 people, a listener base that seems somehow able to support a full-time roster of talk radio personalities in the middle of the desert.Some of these personalities, like the host of the Conspiracy Hour, are quite funny.But the story really revolves around two of the talk radio DJs - cynical and logical Lauren Hartford (played with spunk by Nikki Boyer) and the charming, impulsive Jack Proctor (played by Beau Clark).Jack has gotten stuck in town for a bit on his way to a big-city DJ job in Los Angeles and ends up competing with local personality Lauren to see whose version of love makes the most sense.Should the town's ladies continue to listen to Lauren and compare their menfolk against Non-Negotiable Check Lists (NNCLs)? Or should the men use romance and charm (not to mention the occasional shower and breath mint) to sweep the objects of their affection off their feet.The big studios have mostly given up on little stories with a slice of American flavor that show people concerned with the most momentous issues of all - who to choose as a life partner, who deserves to be given the key to your heart.In short, for those who like some laughs, some romance and a nice dose of witty reparte, Coyote County Loser turns out to be a real winner.

It's rare that an independent film with a minor-league budget achieves real cinema magic, especially when it's just telling a boy-meets-girl story without gimmicks or shock value. But Coyote County Loser is one of those magical rarities, and don't be surprised if the music fades, the lights come up, and you find yourself keeping your seat to immediately watch it all over again.The hook for the film involves a big time radio "love doctor," Jack Proctor (Beau Clark), getting stranded in a podunk town while driving through the desert southwest. It turns out the town already has a local AM radio love advice expert, the lovely Lauren Hartford (Nikki Boyer). The two immediately get under each other's skin when the cocky, impulsive Jack decides to prank call Lauren's earnest, practical advice hour. Sparks fly and conflict ensues as the two relationship "experts" each find their own approaches to love stymied by the other, and of course, it wouldn't be a romantic comedy if they didn't finally fall in love in the end. While giving that away doesn't exactly spoil anything the audience can't see coming, one of the delightful surprises of Coyote County Loser is how the plot throws some curveballs just in time to keep the finale interesting.With Jack stranded in town, Lauren's radio station manager offers him the chance to stick around and stir things up on air. With Jack and Lauren bumping elbows in what was once Lauren's solo domain, Jack is provoked into entering a bet with Lauren: if his love advice can't get the most pathetic sap in the county a date with the girl of his dreams, he'll leave town and never look back. What Jack doesn't realize until it's too late, however, is that Coyote County's biggest loser might just have his eye on the same girl he does, and to win the bet, he may end up helping someone else win Lauren's heart. The scenery is possibly the film's greatest asset, as the brilliant skies and open vistas in and around Roswell, New Mexico, where the film was mostly shot, immediately make plausible the idea that a big city radio jockey might just be willing to lose himself forever with the girl of his dreams in this desert paradise. It is a landscape made for longing hearts, and it draws the audience in from the first minute.Coyote County Loser enjoys a cast that has the right mix of Hollywood experience and undiscovered talent (with, admittedly, a few obvious amateurs making the most of their first opportunity in front of a camera).The star of the film is, without a doubt, Nikki Boyer, probably best known as the spunky studio hostess for the TV Guide Channel. The camera renders her mesmerizing in the light of New Mexico's sunsets, and the script gives her a range of personality aspects to navigate between. She alternates among confident, accomplished Ph.D. in her field, vulnerable girl wishing for the very romance she's terrified of, tomboy car mechanic, snarky on-air sparring partner, and doting daughter. She plays them all with total authenticity.Beau Clark may not be a recognizable star, but on screen as Jack he's magnetic. He throws a casual, roguish vibe that, for most of the film, is pitch perfect, though there are moments the script asks him to walk right up to the edge of playing the kind of cocky slimeball that risks losing the audience's sympathy. To be sure, Jack evolves quite a bit throughout the film as the romantic narrative gradually draws the leads together, and it's apparent Clark as an actor evolves, too. It's fairly obvious which scenes were shot earliest during the principal photography, as some of Jack's initial scoundrel moments overshoot the character's center. But once established, the rapport between Boyer and Clark resonates and you're rooting for love to finally take hold.Playing third fiddle in the love triangle is Frederic Doss as Lyle the junkyard auto mechanic, who very nearly steals the show with his handful of scenes. He plays the classic shy country boy with a golden heart and a secret crush, and it's a credit to the scriptwriters, director Jason Naumann, and Doss himself that for a while, you're not sure who you'd rather see find happiness with the lovely Lauren Hartford – Jack or Lyle? Longtime Hollywood role players Wayne Grace and K Callan play a delightful older couple who alternately give sage advice and play mischievous matchmakers to Jack and Lauren. Unexpectedly, the story finds them to be the strong core around which all the other players revolve. Both Grace and Callan have moments on screen where their passion for this little indy film is clear, as lines that surely would have looked quite ordinary on the page become little gems of human insight in the subtle delivery.The film has an engaging score and a toe-tapping musical selection, including several songs composed for the film, that bring both an authentic desert southwest flavor to the journey and also drive the momentum of the storyline forward.And the movie does build momentum. As the pieces of the plot ultimately come rushing together in a dramatic crescendo, it's hard to believe the energy of the finale didn't require a car chase to bring it home – although you might literally see one coming on first viewing.The producing/writing team of brothers Jacob and Lucas Roebuck and Robert Bethke strove to make a film that was engaging, dramatic and cut no corners in its absorbing entertainment value – while sticking to a commitment that it should be a family friendly film with a wholesome outlook on love.The result is a film that is delightfully good, in spite of occasional clues to its budget limitations.

Great movie, you may think, wow, he's just a "fan boy". But truly, this movie made me laugh, made me cry, had me in serious thought, it just touches you. Also is so very enjoyable to watch a movie that brings out all of those emotions, and yet is only PG. It lacks all the trash that most movies today have injecting into them. There is only one word said that would be considered "bad", Jack says "crap" once. And for a romance movie in today's world, this qualifies to be watched by most children, yet it still portrays the story extremely well. I do have to admit I would not rush out and take a ten year old to watch it because it does have some scenes that are not inappropriate, just could be a bit hard for a younger child to comprehend, and/or handle. Hope you can watch it soon, or have watched it and enjoyed it.