DIGGERS combines humor and pathos in a
bittersweet story about a tightly-knit cluster of friends,
all of whom are forced to embrace change as their small-town
way of life is soon to be altered forever.
It’s September 1976 on the south shore of Long Island. Ads
on the TV in the local bar announce “a change coming over
America” with the upcoming Ford-Carter presidential
election, but local clam diggers are more worried about
losing their already-fragile trade to an encroaching
corporation.
Like his father and grandfather before him, Hunt (Paul Rudd)
is a digger, but one with a restless, imaginative side
exemplified by the black-and-white Polaroids he takes.
Hunt’s lifelong buddies and fellow diggers include Frankie
Lozo (Ken Marino), a brash father struggling to support five
kids and his longsuffering but spunky wife, Julie (Sarah
Paulson); laid-back local ladies’ man Jack (Ron Eldard); and
philosophy-spouting pot dealer Cons (Josh Hamilton).
A sudden death propels the four best friends to look at
their lives, as it does for Hunt’s recently-divorced (and
“Hite Report”-reading) older sister, Gina (Maura Tierney),
who works as a waitress at the local diner. Meanwhile, Hunt
falls for a hip young woman visiting from Manhattan, Zoe
(Lauren Ambrose), who wonders why his artistic impulses
don’t propel him out of a dead-end town.
This rich slice-of-life from America’s not-too-distant past
recalls such ‘70s character-driven staples as DINER, THE
LAST PICTURE SHOW, and BREAKING AWAY. DIGGERS boasts a
knock-out ensemble cast, the emotional sensitivity and
outrageous comedy of a screenplay by Ken Marino
(writer/producer on David Wain’s forthcoming THE TEN, and
co-creator of the legendary MTV show “The State”) and A GOOD
BABY director Katherine Dieckmann’s keen sense of period
verisimilitude and heartfelt blend of drama and humor.
a
©
2007 Magnolia Pictures. All Rights
Reserved.
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