It's been a while since I've reviewed a feature, my intake of late has been short after short after short. I don't mind of course - shorts are easy to take in, simple to analyze, and impressions come quickly. With features I find I need to be pulled in quickly or my attention will quickly wander. Unfortunately despite some positive elements, Michael Noens' Darren & Abbey fell into the latter category.

Having met Michael and his group in the past I find it's a little more difficult to write a generally negative review, so right off the bat I want to emphasize some of the good points of this movie. Annie Rix is indeed charming as Abbey. The dialogue is pretty good, albeit not always well delivered. It's a mixed blessing because this is my main problem with the movie - it's ALL dialogue.

It'd be a fairly accurate description to say that this film is simply two people meeting and then talking for fourty-five minutes, pausing briefly to play ping pong with kitchenware and to dance. Badly. The plot, and I use the term loosely, Darren gets ditched by his friend just before Christmas and offers to take his friend's sister (Abbey) home. His intentions are straight-up, and he plans to head out for the night but Abbey insists he come inside as he has no plans for the holidays and she's home alone.

Once inside the two talk, get to know each other, get innocently kooky in a cliche montage, and inevitably fall for each other by the end of the evening.

Compared to Nice Knowing You, where two friends build to a loving moment as well, D&A falls short simply because there is no conflict or tension whatsoever. In NKY the viewer and the friends know that their relationship can never be, and it tugs at you emotionally because they have something real. Here it's two single people who meet and have a nice night getting to know each other, with no time restraint, tension, or looming problem. Even Hollywood's crappiest rom-coms at least have characters beset by other relationships, overpowering careers or glaring character flaws.

The movie is filled with nice moments, the best of which is Abbey reciting a poem to Darren which I really enjoyed. The zen-like question is asked: 'If a movie theater doesn't sell any tickets, do they still play the film?' Love it. But clever dialogue alone doesn't make a compelling story. Mark Stewart Iverson is passable as Darren and seems to perform better later in the film when the two have warmed up to each other. Annie Rix does a fine job, but the final word: Darren & Abbey doesn't offer much for viewers except cute conversation.