Compared
to Cy’s, Crazy Eddie’s was a classy joint. Ryan Chess works for one of their
lowest volume stores—or at least he did. It is about to be shuttered for
failing to make its sales goals. That shouldn’t excessively trouble a
college-bound senior accepted by MIT, but there is a girl involved in Alex
Grossman’s Hickey (trailer here), which opens this
Friday in Los Angeles.
For
embarrassing reasons, Chess was saddled with the nick-name “Hickey” and he just
can’t shake it. It certainly does not help him make any headway with Carly
Alvarez, the co-worker he has carries a torch for. She has dreams of pop stardom,
but her own insecurities and perfectionism are holding her back. Unlike Chess,
she really needs her job at Cy’s to pay her bills. Presumably, Chess will be
off to MIT in the fall, but at the last minute he applied to UCLA to stay near
her and to look after his recently divorced mother.
Cy’s
regional sales manager and MLB washout Brady “The Hawk” Krane throws everyone’s
plans into chaos with the announcement of their store closure. However, being a
whiz at numbers, Chess rallies the motley staff to make a Hail Mary attempt to
hit their sales goal in the remaining hours of the day. Some of his plans are
reasonably clever, like luring in the medical marijuana dispensary’s “patients”
with free pizza. Frustratingly, they will still probably come up short because
the store is just too lame. Krane has also most likely been cooking the books
against them, which makes Alvarez’s flirtatious friendship with him even more
appalling to Chess.
The
poorly titled Hickey is a likable
movie that will stir nostalgia for crummy summer jobs and bittersweet summer
crushes. The young up-and-coming cast has a lot of screen sizzle, especially
Raychel Diane Weiner as the gothy sales clerk Ellen Blum. Troy Doherty and
Flavia Watson have some nice early John Hughes chemistry going on as Chess and
Alvarez, but Zedrick Restauro is a bit too “on” as his best bud Jeremy. Perhaps
the real surprise is the dignity and pathos Tommy “Tiny” Lister adds as Henry,
the slightly punchy security guard.
