Rotten Tomatoes "Layover is a lovely little gem!" LAYOVER A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2009 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): *** In the sharply written LAYOVER, by writer and director April Wright, Tiffany (Stacey Miller) and Richard (Daniel Rhyder) are facing white-out conditions. This leaves them both stranded at an airport where they are attempting, unsuccessfully, to make connections to the next legs of their flights. When they run into each other at the airport, Tiffany and Richard realize that they were both in the same class in high school back in Grand Falls. While she is eager to chat him up, he looks at first like he wants nothing more than for her to shut up and leave him completely alone. This is no surprise, since they were complete opposites back in school, which must have been a decade or two ago. Tiffany, a haggard looking blonde who is probably younger than she appears, was a cheerleader who married Whitey, a football jock. When she remarks to Richard, "Did you know I lost fifty pounds?" He answers quickly without thinking, "Fifty pounds -- I don't know where you'd put it." In contrast, Richard is handsome and slender and probably older than he appears. When she says, almost kidding, that she bets he must moisturize regularly and get Botox injections, he surprises her by saying that he does. He was a loner in high school who spent most of his time in the drama department. Shortly after high school, he moved to Los Angeles to work in the theater there. As it turns out, that is where Tracy is now moving as well. As they begin to drink, they begin to bond and to share stories about their lives with increasing candor. The film, which starts out heavy on the comedy, smoothly makes the shift to full-out drama with the revelations coming slowly at first but with rapidly increasing speed. Richard complains that life is made of up of clichés and that Tiffany is a living cliché. Rather than take offense, she completely agrees but ticks off ways in which she is attempting to turn her life around. Richard isn't very happy with himself, admitting, "I'm a mediocre perfectionist, which can be problematic." He talks insightfully about the "charades" people put on. One of his, back in school, was acting like he didn't care that no one liked him, which in fact he cared about a whole lot. Filmed with a loving glow, the movie all set inside an airport will have you glued to the screen as these characters you've come to care about reveal more and more of their lives and, in particular, their personal tragedies. LAYOVER is a genuine and touching film that's put together very nicely. If I had one criticism of it, it would be that the director should give her actors more dialog-free moments when facial gestures could be used more to convey the emotions. But it's a minor quibble. LAYOVER is a lovely little gem.

Over 1000 actors submitted for each of the two roles in the film. The film was shot entirely on location in Bozeman, Montana.