While boilerplate indie storylines like those listed above are certainly common at the festival, you can also find their opposites: crowd-pleasers that long for a Hollywood delivery out of their budget range. These pictures—notably HairBrained, Billy Kent‘s comedy that opens the festival, and Cut to Black, Dan Eberle‘s neo-noir that closes it—may be made on an independent scale, but they’re absolutely constructed for mainstream audiences. To their credit, the genuine love these pictures’ creators exhibit for Hollywood genres lends them an endearing charisma. HairBrained is a misfit buddy comedy (and a Bad News Bears-esque sports picture) about a 14-year-old genius (Alex Wolff) who enters college, becomes friends with a 41-year-old undergrad (Brendan Fraser!), and revitalizes the school’s quiz team. Wolff is charismatic as the brilliant but socially inept brain, and the chemistry between him and his doting, often dunderheaded older buddy charges the film.
