A death in the family forces Hunt (Paul Rudd), a Long Island clam digger, to face up to his becalmed existence in Katherine Dieckmanns terrific movie about a dying way of life. The Ford-Carter debates simmer quietly in the background, but Dieckmann doesnt snow us with 70s symbolism. This very particular movie has a lyrical feel for place, period, and the rhythms of a small-town community tryingand tragicomically failingto run in place while the world around it opens its arms to creeping corporatism. Rudd is sweet and funny; Ron Eldard and Josh Hamilton are great as the towns aimless stud muffin and philosophizing pothead respectively. But the movie belongs to Ken Marino, who is riotously funny as the family man whose anger-management problem at last finds a fitting target in the big businessmen who come to destroy his living. Marino also wrote the outstanding script, which traps the foul-mouthed vitality of working-class speech in a bottle and makes it sing. Diggers is not a film you watchits a movie you live in, and when times up you feel the same sense of loss as do these guys, who realize they have no choice but to move on.
Join My Voice Nation for free stuff, film info & more!
Find everything you're looking for in your city
Find the best happy hour deals in your city
Get today's exclusive deals at savings of anywhere from 50-90%
Check out the hottest list of places and things to do around your city
