Morena Baccarin

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - This mildly engaging but never entirely convincing ensemble piece feels much like a first-timer’s roman a clef. Centering on a quintet of friends poised between the collegiate cocoon and the less accommodating world of adulthood, "Way Off Broadway" trades in familiar conflicts between self-fulfillment and survival. The cast’s chemistry helps, but the story lacks a necessary dramatic heat.

Young writer-director Daniel Kay doesn’t convey the urgency he sees in the material and often fumbles key emotional scenes. But he and his cast click in the more loose-limbed sequences, when offhand jokiness barely masks the way these friends cling to one another for shelter from the big chill. Completed in 2001, the film is getting a shot at theatrical exposure via 3-year-old distributor Small Planet. Video ultimately might be a cozier fit.

At the center of the film’s group of friends embarking on careers in the arts — with varying degrees of commitment and procrastination — is blocked playwright Darrin (Brad Beyer). When financing falls through on an Off Off Broadway production of one of his older plays, he takes a straight job at an ad agency, much to the horror of his pals.

His retreat might also have something to do with his unexpressed love for Rebecca (Morena Baccarin). An eager actress busy with cattle-call auditions, she gets a chance at a juicy screen role with an all-too predictably unscrupulous director (Neal Jones). She and her ex, Mickey (the terrifically intense Michael Parducci), a grad student studying film, have turned breakup sex into an ongoing condition.

Freeloading guitarist Jay (the compelling Forbes March), who hasn’t played in months, finds his reliance on good looks and charisma wearing thin, and English-lit grad student Ethan (Jordan Gelber) lives vicariously through his friends’ romantic exploits. The always welcome Larry Pine shows up as Darrin’s aggressively supportive dad.

Kay’s script alternates between smart dialogue and self-conscious statements about the brink of adulthood. He papers the narrative with pop crooning, subbing musical commentary for emotional exploration.

Only 40 minutes into the film, in a scene in Washington Square Park, does the New York setting make itself felt. In flavorless connecting shots of the city, it looks like a medium-size burg of no particular distinction, echoing the story’s lack of tension.