"The Read" This genie-in-a-bottle story quickly takes you on a left turn filled adventure, using Los Angeles as the backdrop for a video camera that films the future. Characters are just the types of quirky neighbors one actually finds living around town. TAG, a Midwestern skateboard star that never was, remains haunted by a childhood failure. His level-headed girlfriend ZOE is tired of competing for his attention with BECKER–Tag’s Eddie Haskall-like buddy & acting partner. COLLETTE is hysterical in crisis, DONALD always remains calm and RICO is everyone’s favorite scapegoat. As the story progresses, cast members scheme to use the magic camera for their own selfish purposes. Sprinkle in some bad guys, a sting operation and sage advice from an aging British pop star and you’ve got a greed-fueled frenzied ride that literally screeches to a halt when Zoe nearly careens off the broken track of a rickety old roller coaster.

In a town where boob jobs are considered emergency surgery and friends steal from friends, it’s refreshing to see that love and goodness can still prevail.