Last Stop for Paul

This engaging, mostly improvised no-budget feature is based in part on Mandt's experiences, its loose narrative structure developing by chance as the duo encounter an assortment of characters on the road.

Crisply shot on a lightweight camcorder, Last Stop for Paul leaves the prevailing impression of an amiable, homespun travelogue done in the style of Bruce Brown's "Endless Summer."

There's no real subterfuge going on, simply an ingenious way of constructing a good film out of virtually nothing.

Good-natured, lightweight fun, although clichéd and more suited to DVD and cable than the big screen.

An overall sense that the movie was infinitely more fun to make than it is to watch.

There's definitely a workable, reality TV-based angle at the core of Last Stop -- something along the lines of "No Reservations" but with scattered human remains instead of Anthony Bourdain.

The trouble is that the contrivances are so…CONTRIVED.