Let's Give it an A for Effort

B for execution...

Christine Lahti's 2001 My First Mister is a nice little film, filled with all the right ingredients - quirky characters protrayed by talented actors, interesting visuals, sharp writing, and a splash of magical realism - but it isn't quite as great as it might have been.  I can't tell if it tried too hard or not quite hard enough.  Leelee Sobieski does a very nice job with her role as a disaffected teenage Goth prone to cutting.  Albert Brooks plays his usual schmoo but gets his share of good lines.  Pauley Perrette of NCIS fame apparently had a small part, but I don't remember seeing her.  My First Mister is not consistently excellent, but it's gentleness and patience with its characters makes it worth a look.