The Drunk

Paul Fleschner and William Tanoos wrote, directed and starred in this independent comedy alongside Tom Sizemore and cameos from Jesse Ventura. Hinting at the millennial generation's suspicion of corrupt party politics (we have had a do-nothing congress for almost a decade), the hard-drinking grandson of the great socialist American Eugene Debs decides to continue the family tradition and run for governor of Indiana. The film is located almost entirely in Terra Haute, which is the birthplace of Eugene Debs, and it captures the spirit of a plain- speaking populist politician who sets out to unite people in the American heartland. Fleschner and Tanoos give a nice performance, and Sizemore hits is out of the park. Although I kept wishing that they exploited their material more deeply (both the Terre Haute setting and the Debs legacy), I'm giving these first time filmmaker a thumbs up.