''Mind the Gap'' is a 2004 American multi-story

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film, written and directed by

Eric Schaeffer Eric Schaeffer (born January 22, 1962) is an American actor, writer, and director. Early life and education Schaeffer was born in New York City, New York, and later graduated with a degree in drama and dance from Bard College. After graduat ...

. The film moves back and forth between five separate stories that interconnect with each other by the end of the film. The film stars

Elizabeth Reaser Elizabeth Ann Reaser (born July 2, 1975) is an American film, television, and stage actress. Her work includes the films ''Stay'', ''The Family Stone'', ''Sweet Land'', '' Against the Current'', '' The Twilight Saga'', ''Young Adult'', and '' Oui ...

Jill Sobule Jill Sobule (born January 16, 1961) is an American singer-songwriter best known for the 1995 single "I Kissed a Girl (Jill Sobule song), I Kissed a Girl", and "Supermodel (Jill Sobule song), Supermodel" from the soundtrack of the 1995 film ''Cl ...

, Charles Parnell, John Heard,

Vera Farmiga Vera Ann Farmiga ( ; born August 6, 1973) is an American actress who is best known for portraying paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren in the Conjuring Universe films '' The Conjuring'' (2013), '' The Conjuring 2'' (2016), '' Annabelle Co ...

, and

Alan King Alan King (born Irwin Alan Kniberg; December 26, 1927 – May 9, 2004) was an American actor and comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. King became well known as a Jewish comedian and satirist. He was also a serious ac ...

in his last film role.

Plot

Five New Yorkers come to terms with the bitter-sweet reality of life in this collection of intertwined stories. Single dad Sam (

) struggles to raise his son; elderly Herb (

) honors a deceased friend with a perilous act; musician Jody (

) worries what heartache will do to her pacemaker; free-spirited Malissa (

) cares for her sick mother; and John ( Charles Parnell) reels from his failed marriage.

Cast

as Herb Schweitzer *

as Malissa Zubach * Charles Parnell as John McCabe *

as Sam Blue *

as Jody Buller * John Heard as Henry Richards * Todd Weeks as Dr. John Albertson *

Kim Raver Kimberly Jayne Raver (born March 15, 1969) is an American actress and producer. She is best known for television roles as Dr. Teddy Altman on ABC's medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'', Kim Zambrano on ''Third Watch'', and Audrey Raines on '' 24''. ...

as Vicki Walters *

as Allison Lee * Deirdre Kingsbury as Mother Zubach * Christopher Kovaleski as Rocky Blue * Stan Berger as Morris *

Yolonda Ross Yolonda Ross is an American actress, writer and director. Life and career Ross was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She began her acting career in New York, appearing in the episodes of television series ''New York Undercover'' and ''Third Wa ...

as Deniese * Malcolm-Ali Davis as William * Mina Badie as Dana * Noel Ashman as white man * Wilhelm Lewis as Black Man

Production

The film was written and directed by

, who also stars in the film. It was produced by Terence Michael, Chip Hourihan, Bob Kravitz and Noel Ashman. The film was distributed by Sky Island Films,

Showtime Networks Showtime Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company that oversees the company's pay television, premium cable television television channel, channels, including its flagship service Showtime (TV network), Showtime. It is a subsidiary of me ...

and 111 Pictures, and was premiered at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

on March 13, 2004. It was later released in New York on September 24, 2004. Most of the film was shot in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, including the

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

scenes and most of the interiors. Exterior shots were also filmed in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

Reception

Box office

The film made $5,503 in its opening weekend, after being released to one theater screen in

. ''Mind the Gap'' went on to gross a total of $10,637 domestically, from the

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in the United States.

Critical response

The film received generally mixed reviews from film critics. ''Mind the Gap'' holds a 59% approval rating on aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 17 critical reviews, with an average rating of 5.6/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

the film scored a 46 out of 100 rating, based on 10 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Joe Leydon Joseph Patrick Michael Leydon (born August 22, 1952) is an American film critic and historian. A critic and correspondent for ''Variety'' since 1990, he is the author of ''Joe Leydon's Guide to Essential Movies You Must See'' (Michael Wiese Prod ...

of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote: "Warm-hearted but clear-eyed indie effort richly repays audience patience during deliberately paced and provocatively allusive early scenes with a cumulative emotional impact that is immensely satisfying."

Frank Scheck Frank Scheck is an American film critic. He is best known for his reviews in the ''New York Post'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter''. He formerly edited ''STAGES Magazine'' and worked as a theater critic for the ''Christian Science Monitor Ch ...

of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote: "An overly ambitious, overly complex and overly long opus that bites off more than it can chew."

Ella Taylor Ella Taylor is a film critic who was a staff writer for the ''LA Weekly'' and Village Voice Media, writing film and book reviews, interviews, profiles, and cultural and political commentary from 1989 to 2009, when she and much of the staff were la ...

of ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'' gave a positive review, writing: "You can see what's coming five minutes into the movie, but capable acting lends it a certain superficial charm." Anita Gates of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote: "Mr. Schaeffer takes his time cryptically setting up his characters' situations in the film. When they finally start moving toward one another and revealing their secrets, the revelations flow like diet soda. The improbable ending is oddly satisfying. But don't ask moviegoers to believe that Sam and Malissa would both find parking spaces right in front of

Lenox Hill Hospital Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH) is a nationally ranked 450-bed non-profit, tertiary, research and academic medical center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, servicing the tri-state area. LHH is one of the region's many unive ...

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0373152, Mind the Gap 2004 films 2004 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films Films directed by Eric Schaeffer Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films shot in Tucson, Arizona Films shot in Vermont 2004 comedy films 2004 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films