Silent Humor

By Mr D Stevens

 This is an interesting dark comedy starring the legendary Robin Williams (RV) as Lance Clayton, a school teacher at a high school his son Kyle played by Daryl Sabara (Spy Kids), also goes to.

From the onset we see the relationship between father and son is not optimum at the best of times, as Lance walks in unexpectedly on Kyle to find him in an embarrassing position with a belt around his neck, Lance panics thinking he is dead, only for Kyle to critique his father for catching him at an anxious moment. Lance is long suffering towards his son, while Kyle on the other hand is rude and obnoxious at every opportunity, case in point when caught with his trousers down he ridicules his father by calling him a homosexual, but Lance fires an equally quick retort saying that he fathered him so he is not a homosexual.

Later on we join Kyle at school, where he continues his behaviour, by making an off-hand rude remark to a girl and is summoned to Principal Anderson’s office, played by Geoffrey Pierson (24), along with Lance. It seems Kyle has been getting into trouble at school for quite sometime and is given one last chance.

It becomes obvious that Kyle has no intention of changing, despite Lance trying to participate more in his son’s life by trying to involve him in his day to day activities, even though Kyle typically finds a way to resist. On this particular occasion he comes along with his dad on a date with another teacher at the school, Claire played by the lovely Alexie Gilmore (something about her smile just lights up the entire room).

The date didn’t go as well as Lance hoped for, because although Lance assumed everything went OK, Kyle on the other hand was busy taking pictures of Claire under the table with his mobile phone. As well as trying to win the affections of Claire from another teacher and basketball coach Mike Lane, played by Henry Simmons (Shark), we find out that Lance is also trying to get established as an author, but all attempts so far have failed, and his frustration is even more apparent as Mike’s first time publication to the New York Times is published amidst congratulations from fellow teachers. Lance’s frustration is about to come to an end, because something happens that opens up his literature to the world, and the much needed respect, recognition, and romance from Claire are soon at his fingertips.

At times this is sad and poignant. Some of the crude humor fits in well with the scenes, and as usual Robin Williams does a superb job capturing the lonely single parent, desperate to bring his son into line.

Mr D Stevens is a reviewer at Movie reviews

How The Art Of The Unspoken Word Can Be Funny

COMMERCIAL BREAK, A Great New Advertising Novel by Keith Harmeyer

By Jamie London

 The most popular show on television now is Mad Men. Not only are devotees captivated by the complex characters and the captivating storyline - they love the series insider look at the intriguing world of advertising. The crazy creatives, the back-stabbing and politics, the demanding clients.

Now theres a great new novel that provides readers that same entree to the world of advertising, but with a contemporary setting, a suspenseful plot and a heap of laughs along the way to a big surprise ending.

COMMERCIAL BREAK, by Keith Harmeyer, is the story of Adam Glassman, a worn out ad man who gives new meaning to the word “creativity” when he dreams up what would possibly be the biggest idea of his career - a way to swindle his contemptible clients out of millions and make a fresh start.

A chain of unpredicted obstacles makes the set up even more difficult than Adam imagined. There’s Harry Steck, an unsavory private investigator, hired by a disgruntled former employee to dig up dirt on Adamwith life-threatening consequences. And Samantha Winningham, the attractive young art director whose affair with Adam may cause the whole plan to fall apart, and land Adam in prison.

Eventually, the pieces are in place. All that is left on Super Bowl Sunday are a group of eager clients, a very nervous would-be con man, and one burning question : can he get away with it?

COMMERCIAL BREAK is MAD MEN meets THE PRODUCERS - unpredictable, fast-paced, and sometimes laugh-out-loud hilarious, with the type of out of the ordinary storyline and rich characters enjoyed by readers of Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard.

COMMERCIAL BREAK is highly recommended reading. It just might be the best novel you read this year. Give it a look!

Buy COMMERCIAL BREAK, by Keith Harmeyer, at http://www.CommercialBreakTheNovel.com and at Amazon.

silent humor

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