Humboldt County

Just the type of small film that, if given a chance to be seen by audiences, could become somewhat of a hit for grownups ala "Sideways" or "The Squid and the Whale."

It's like the Sixties never happened, or maybe happened too much.

Its low-key charms are considerable enough to engage venturesome ticketbuyers.

These characters are fully alive. But the movie attaches them to a conventional, not to say creaky, hip-meets-square drama.

Jeremy Strong's minimalist performance in the lead role makes for an unconvincing character arc--he seems almost as ill-at-ease and dispirited by the end of the film as he does at the beginning.

Not a moment rings true in this sentimental drama.

The entire script, which boils down to a hopelessly embarrassing lesson about "this beautiful place that can make people live again," seems to have been written within arm's reach of a bong.