A LITTLE HELP

Year: 2010
USA: Freestyle Releasing
Cast: Jenna Fischer, Chris O'Donnell, Rob Benedict, Daniel Yelsky, Kim Coates, Brooke Smith, Lesley Ann Warren, Ron Leibman, Zach Page, Arden Myrin, Aida Turturro, Jim Florentine, Dion DiMucci, Sara Kapner, Michelle Hurst, Dena Hysell, Joe Gressis, Glen Trotiner, Nadia Dajani, Sam McMurray, Lynn Cohen, Shari Albert
Director: Michael J Weithorn
Country: USA
USA: 109 mins
USA Rated: R for language, some sexual content and drug use
USA Release Date: 22 July 2011 (Limited Release)


Synopsis

Set in suburban Long Island in the post-9/11 summer of 2002, A LITTLE HELP examines a period of chaotic and rather bizarre upheaval in the life of dental hygienist Laura Pehlke (Jenna Fischer).

Up to now Laura has had the wind at her back in life by virtue of her good looks and effortless charisma. But lately things have begun to take some dark and difficult turns. Her marriage to real estate agent Bob Pehlke (Chris O'Donnell) has become tense and loveless - Laura even has suspicions that he's cheating - and her relationship with her 12 year-old son Dennis (Daniel Yelsky) has become strained as well, his emerging adolescence having turned him typically sullen and hostile. Laura has not been dealing well with all this - she's drinking and smoking too much; her self-esteem and confidence are in free fall.

When Bob dies suddenly from an undetected abnormality of the heart, Laura finds it difficult to cope. Her intrusive mother, Joan (Lesley Ann Warren) and sister, Kathy (Brooke Smith) step in and coerce Laura into sending Dennis to an exclusive private school, and into hiring a ruthless lawyer, Mel Kaminsky (Kim Coates), to sue the doctor who misdiagnosed Bob.

Dennis impulsively tells the other kids that his father was a fireman who died in 9/11, then pleads with Laura not to reveal the truth for fear of the humiliation he would suffer. The second lie involves the malpractice suit, as she knows that Bob didn't tell the ER doctor the truth, because in doing so he would have meant revealing the affair.

Struggling in this tide of deception, Laura finds Kathy's smart and sensitive husband, Paul (Rob Benedict) is the only one she can talk to. Paul had always had feelings for Laura, and now, twenty years later, their respective circumstances begin to draw them powerfully toward each other - despite the obvious complications and dangers that this implies.

A LITTLE HELP is the story - funny, touching, sad, and real - of an ordinary person, engulfed by ordinary events, making an extraordinary emotional journey.

A LITTLE HELP - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack:
Release Date: 19 July 2011

1. Down In A Hole (You've Got To Stop Digging) - Jakob Dylan
2. You're No Match - Jakob Dylan
3. No Season At All - Jakob Dylan
4. Runaround Sue (New Version) - Dion
5. If You Want To Rock And Roll - Dion and Zach Page
6. I'm Lucky - Celeigh Chapman
7. Help You - Louden Swain
8. Kyle's Guitar Solo - Zach Page
9. Receiving (Score) - Austin Wintory
10. Twenty Years Too Late (Score) - Austin Wintory