Despite separate stories that have been used too many times before (a lover leaving, a pregnancy test causing a major rift between a couple), “Aisle to Aisle” is packaged in an unusual manner. Past, present, and future converge on a guy (Ben Beck) and a girl (Danae Mercer) at a supermarket, where items cause them to flash back on those unpleasant times. The present time is in black-and-white, while the flashbacks are in a burnished silent-film style, where the characters’ lips move, but no intertitles are present. Fortunately, the three writer/directors are savvy enough to know that despite their lack of a good story, viewers have seen these characters before and therefore do not need to know the dialogue.
“Aisle to Aisle” also suffers from a score that tries to sound solemn, but is too syrupy, and really jumps on the nerves. The ending, however, rings so very true, the only act of originality here. It feels so right because we’ve all got problems, but there are no set-in-stone solutions or actions that soften the blows in our lives. That’s the saving grace for “Aisle to Aisle”, showing that there’s Hollywood and then there’s Planet Earth.
