Coffee Town is the original comedy from writer/director Brad Copeland and marks the first feature film produced by website CollegeHumor; better known for their on-line comedy videos. This continues a new trend of features created by on-line content sites; the feature iSteve (a comic look at the life of Steve Jobs) was released by site FunnyorDie earlier the same year. The film was released simultaneously in cinemas and on-demand.
The film stars Glen Howerton (star and co-creator of TV sitcom It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) as Will; a website manager that uses his local coffee shop as his office. This deals comically with the clichés and real life habits of coffee shop users; as Will has created his own delicate ecosystem in order to maintain his free-loading existence.
However, this existence is threatened when the shop owners plan to convert the shop into a bar. Will teams up with fellow slouches Chad (Steve Little) and Gino (Ben Schwartz) to hatch a plot to foil the owner’s plans. Will also competes with suave bartender Sam (Josh Groban) for the affections of love interest Becca (Adrianne Palicki).
Howerton brings us an assured, warm & funny sitcom performance for the big screen; perhaps not what many would count as a successful transition but in this case it works. Formed from a series of oddball and slightly exaggerated comic performances you could easily compare this film to an episode of the Big Bang Theory or Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Highly watch-able and well paced at 87 minutes long the comedy here reflects on situations many will relate to.
3/5
More recently Internet giant NetFlix have announced they are developing their own features for release and distribution. With these new distribution paths it is easier than ever for slightly off-beat, small films such as these to get made and reach a larger audience. This may mark the start of the end for the traditional ‘studio’ model as we know it.
