Searching For Bobby D (2005)

Searching For Bobby D is an indie film, about a bunch of Brooklyn twenty somethings and their quest to shoot a film. The viewer gets the impression that this is more than a little autobiographical. We start in the neighborhoods of Brooklyn as these aspiring actors go on casting calls, and only can get jobs as extras on mob movies. As an aside, this is probably true, as a coworker, who is Italian, does this in the city, and he got picked a few times for The Sopranos, and Law and Order as an extra gangster- and never anything else. Anyway, getting back to the film at hand, the gang concludes that the best way for them to be in a film is to make it themselves, like Robert DeNiro, hence the film's title. While so far we were off to a good start, interspersed with authentic Brooklyn locations, like the Spumoni Gardens, we only go down from here.

The boys end up in Pennsylvania with a variety of schemes to raise the money to finance their cinema endeavors. They range from impersonating mobsters to collect "shake down" payments, to encouraging the townsfolk to buy parts. They shouldn't have put the effort into collecting the funds, as Searching For Bobby D goes absolutely nowhere from here as the plot is set adrift without a paddle.


While I would love to support an independent film, Searching For Bobby D needed a more engaging story line for starters. While the beginning had some promise, and the acting wasn't dismal, I'm still recommending to search for a different film as this one never actualizes its potential.

Overall Grade: C-

--Jonas