What Alice Found

Theatrical Release Date: 2003 12 05 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 720917543420

Studio: Fox Lorber

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Nudity, Adult Situations, Profanity, Sexual Situations]

Summary: Alice (Emily Grace, in her first feature film role) has run away from her small town, New Hampshire home and hit the road, completely unprepared for the future. She has a wad of ill-gotten cash and a semblance of a plan. She's going to Florida, where she'll crash with a friend who goes to college there. Dolphins have always fascinated her, and eventually she hopes she'll somehow find a way to enroll herself in school and study marine biology. After an unpleasant encounter with a couple of lowlifes on the highway, she pulls into a rest stop. As she's getting ready to hit the road again, Sandra (Judith Ivey) approaches her, warning Alice that she and her husband, Bill (Bill Raymond) saw some guy messing with her car. Sure enough, one of Alice's tires has been punctured. Worried that someone may be planning to ambush Alice out on the roadside, Bill (who, Alice notices, carries a gun) and Sandra ask Alice to follow them in case her car breaks down before she can get it fixed. Sure enough, the old wreck of a car does break down. Sandra and Bill offer to take the wary Alice to a bus station. She hops into their RV, and soon finds herself hitting it off with the loquacious Sandra and her quiet husband. When they offer to save her a few bucks by driving her all the way to Florida, she hesitantly accepts. Soon, they're treating her to meals, and buying her new outfits. But she soon learns the unsavory truth about how Sandra and Bill pay for their freewheeling lifestyle. What Alice Found, written and directed by A. Dean Bell, was shown at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Special Jury Prize – Sundance Film Festival

Features: Audio commentary with writer/director A. Dean Bell and producer/cinematographer Richard Connors
Trailer
Filmographies

What Alice Found

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 09/21/2004

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Runtime: 96 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Main Title [5:17]
2. Where You Headed? [4:28]
3. A Good Samaritan [5:16]
4. Home Away From Home [5:39]
5. The New Me [4:55]
6. To Virginia Virgins! [4:51]
7. Home Safe [5:42]
8. Solicitation [7:17]
9. They're All Dogs [5:44]
10. $200 Easy [7:48]
11. Safe Keeping [6:22]
12. Open for Business [6:50]
13. America's Most Wanted [6:16]
14. I Want My Money! [9:32]
15. Something Better [6:52]
16. End Credits [1:43]

Josh Ralske

A. Dean Bell's What Alice Found is a solid, if unspectacular, drama buoyed by two sensitive and nuanced lead performances. The film puts its troubled protagonist through the moral wringer as the easily manipulated and unfocused teen (well played by Emily Grace) finds herself in over her head when she's drawn into the sleazy world of roadside prostitution. Alice isn't especially bright or model-pretty, but Grace brings an awkward charm to the role (enhanced by an endearingly grating New Hampshire accent) and manages to draw us in, and make us root for Alice to make the right choices. Judith Ivey, as Alice's mentor/corrupter, Sandra, gives a strong, thoughtful performance in a role that could easily have turned into a shrill caricature in less capable hands. Bill Raymond is pretty much a cipher as Bill, Sandra's husband, who rounds out the trio. Bill is clearly a background figure, but he does play a pivotal part in the plot, so it's unfortunate that the character is underwritten. The setting is cramped (much of the film takes place in Bill and Sandra's RV), the DV camerawork (by Richard Connors, who also shot Just Another Girl on the I.R.T.) is effective, but the low-budget efficiency and teen-in-peril story line of What Alice Found give it the feel of an After School Special gone wrong (complete with full frontal nudity!). The script, with its somewhat clunky flashback inserts, isn't really much better than that, with the exception of a couple of strong scenes. The performances are what transcend the fairly rudimentary storytelling and make the film worthwhile. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Richard Connors  Producer 
Don Wells  Executive Producer 
J. C. Chmiel  Executive Producer 
A. Dean Bell  Director 
A. Dean Bell  Screenwriter 
Judith Ivey  Actor 
Bill Raymond  Actor 
Emily Grace  Actor 
Jane Lincoln Taylor  Actor 
Justin Parkinson  Actor 
Michael C. Maronna  Actor 
Katheryn Winnick  Actor 
David Rose  Actor 
John Knox  Actor 
Tim Hayes  Actor 
Lucas Papaelias  Actor 
Clint Jordan  Actor 

Country: USA