Laura Lamson

An offbeat look at four Crescent City layabouts, who dream big in a 'small change' world of cards, women and endless cups of coffee. Their passionate blundering, like their rants, can be at once funny, poignant, ridiculous and heartbreaking. Ditch, their self appointed king, is an irascible son-of-a-bitch with a Napoleon complex, and his pals love him for it. Until one day he pushes the self-tenured Professor too far. A game of threats, posturing and sexual ploys lead them down a dark but comic road in this exploration of what it is to be a man today. Filmed in black and white, this richly textured character study could be the bastard child of Woody Allen and Tom Waits, brought to life by an ensemble of real-life character actors who have known each other and worked together for over twenty- five years.

Nick Fallin is a hotshot lawyer working at his father's ultrasuccessful Pittsburgh law firm. Unfortunately, the high life has gotten the best of Nick. Arrested for drug use, he's sentenced to do 1,500 hours of community service, somehow to be squeezed into his 24/7 cutthroat world of mergers, acquisitions and board meetings. Reluctantly, he's now The Guardian - a part-time child advocate at Legal Aid Services, where one case after another is an eye-opening instance of kids caught up in difficult circumstances.