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The film Chillicothe (pronounced Chill-A-Ka-thee) is a brilliant work for first time writer/director/actor, Todd Edwards. In the vein of High Fidelity, Chillicothe examines the post-college male ego on his quest for meaning in a world where everyone is getting married around him.

Wade (Todd Edwards) is a mid-twenties, post-college nobody who works in advertising and has to paint murals on walls for churches and hock his CD's to keep money in his pocket. Being a typical liberal arts graduate, he has no idea what he wants to do in life. All of his friends, including his younger sister, seem to be getting married, and he can't even get a date. His sister surmises that his problem is his own lack of effort to pursue a girl, and his lack of sensibility and awareness of the options open to him as a bachelor. Wade argues that he has no options and finds himself trapped in a world of friends and roommates who are suffering from the same disorder.

When Wade's best friend and roommate, Kevin, shaves his goatee in order to get a date with his future wife, Wade finds himself even further alienated. His friend Johnny Perfect, the "golf pro," has already married. Wade's only remaining friends are his brothers Shawn and Matt, who are still single. Eventually the trio splits when Wade's brother, Shawn, a hopeless case with a mullet, meets the girl of his dreams in a grocery store. This is the last straw for Wade. He must find some type of definitive.

The film is witty and full of truth as it analyzes the quest for meaning and purpose in life during the post-college years. The film is critical of many forms of art, from music to film to painting, as the characters examine the pop-culture that has shaped them. The artistic quality of the film is evident in the opening sequence, a critique of the male-ego and lust, and the dream sequences and flashbacks to Wade's formative years in college and before, as well as in the dialogue the characters share about their shortcomings in the dating scene. For anyone who has just come out of college and understands what it is like to be broke and lonely, Chillicothe is a film that inspires change and worth despite the pressures of society and self.

Although the acting is not incredible all around, the script and production carry the film beyond anything most independent filmmakers succeed in their first effort. All of the characters are more developed and the acting is far superior to that of anything Kevin Smith did in his early days before Chasing Amy and Dogma. Don't go looking for "Hollywood" here, though. Edwards is far too creative for that. Chillicothe is tasteful, witty, and humorous, an incredible first time production for the writer /director/actor as well as an examination of the heart of the individual.

Todd Ballard 7/21/2001