Finding Amanda (2008)

A television producer with a penchant for drinking and gambling is sent to Las Vegas to convince his troubled niece to enter rehab.

Director:

Peter Tolan

Writer:

Peter Tolan

Stars:

Matthew Broderick, Brittany Snow, Maura Tierney

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Broderick	...	Taylor Mendon
Brittany Snow	...	Amanda
Maura Tierney	...	Lorraine Mendon
Peter Facinelli	...	Greg
Steve Coogan	...	Michael Henry
Ed Begley Jr.	...	Himself
Bill Fagerbakke	...	Larry
Patrick Fischler	...	Kevin - TV Executive
Peggy J. Scott	...	Sharon the Maid (as Peggy Scott)
Jennifer Hall	...	Wendy the Cage Girl
Daniel Roebuck	...	Link
Lester Speight	...	BV (as Lester Rasta Speight)
J.P. Manoux	...	Tony Clark
Jennifer Rau	...	Whisper
Allan Wasserman	...	Dr. Chase

Storyline

Taylor Mendon is a Hollywood scriptwriter on a minor rebound from drugs and booze. He's writing for a mirthless sit-com and betting on the horses behind his wife's back when her sister calls needing help: Taylor's 20-year-old niece Amanda has become a hooker in Las Vegas. He promises to find her, bring her back, and pay for her stay at an expensive rehab center. Once in Nevada, Taylor starts gambling in earnest using money loaned him by the casino. He also finds Amanda, a cheerful prostitute, uninterested in reform. Can Taylor win back his borrowings, keep his wife from discovering his habit, and help Amanda find redemption? Or is life different from a sit-com?

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Plot Keywords:

rehab | gambling | television producer | niece | prostitution | 

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Taglines:

No really, she's his niece.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content including graphic dialogue, pervasive language, drug content and brief nudity

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 March 2011 (Portugal)

Also Known As:

Buscando a Amanda

Filming Locations:

1690 Altadena Drive, Altadena, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$31,340 (USA) (27 June 2008)

Gross:

$56,408 (USA) (11 July 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Capacity Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Taylor Mendon: You and me - we live to make bad choices. We need a person in our lives who, who looks at us when we fuck up and remembers who we were, who we could be. If you don't have someone like that, all you have is you. Sooner or later, left to your own brilliant damaged devices, you'll just go spinning off the goddamn planet. You lose that person, you're done.

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Connections

References Saving Private Ryan (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Strollin' with my baby"
Composed by Gaye Tolan Hatfield
Performed by The Brad Hatfield Trio with Billy Novick

User Reviews

half-hearted comedy/drama

Harried sitcom writer Taylor Mendon is a recovering addict and compulsive gambler who heads to Las Vegas to rescue his ditzy twenty-year-old niece from a career in prostitution and to get her to enroll in rehab. The problem is that Amanda (Brittany Snow) is more than happy with the choices she's made and finds it rather hypocritical and presumptuous of her uncle of all people to be on his high horse regarding how she's living her life.

Matthew Broderick has always excelled at playing the well-meaning, bumbling nebbish, but here, playing a well-meaning, bumbling nebbish who also happens to have alcohol and drug-dependency problems, he defies credibility. Moreover, writer/director Peter Tolan never quite strikes that proper balance between the lighthearted and the serious that he's so earnestly striving for (and which he often achieves on "Rescue Me").

That being said, "Finding Amanda" does have a nice feel for its settings, a partially unexpected resolution, and enough goodwill to almost make it an enjoyable experience.