Love, Ludlow (review)

Perhaps if this Sundance Film Festival selection weren't so intent on establishing its indie bona fides, it could relax enough to be truly engaging. But the self-conscious quirkiness of both the script -- by David L. Paterson, based on his play Finger Painting in a Murphy Bed -- and the direction, by Adrienne Weiss, puts us at a distance from its threesome of characters, who might otherwise be genuinely appealing. Myra (Alicia Goranson: Boys Don't Cry) is a tough office temp who doesn't take any crap from the creepy office lech; Reggie (David Eigenberg: Around the Bend) is the shy guy who takes a shine to her over the cubicle walls; and Ludlow (Brendan Sexton III: Winter Solstice) is Myra's difficult brother, who lives with her and spends his days scribbling quotes from Shakespeare on construction paper to string around their Queens apartment. A sort of love child of Gilbert Grape and Forrest Gump, Ludlow will not stand for anyone -- particularly not "Retarded Reggie" -- taking his sister away. It's a tedious slog to the inevitable ending, and the "real," "non-Hollywood" kookiness of these three is not enough to make the slog worth it.