Contrary to popular belief, the Slacker is not yet extinct. Consider the case of Trevor Phelps (Jack Thyme). Twenty-five years old and jobless, Trevor wakes up on a friend’s couch with twenty bucks left to his name, his prospects for success hinging on a single lukewarm job interview slated for later that afternoon. As Trevor doesn’t have a car and has PLENTY of time on his hands, he decides to walk clear across town. On the way, he runs into an assortment of characters, some of which he knows and others who he meets for the first time. He leaves a chain of loosely connected events in his wake as he makes his steady as a tortoise way, only to reach his destination and wonder if it was even worth the trip.
Director Anthony Jaswinski’s “Killing Time” is kinda charming, but it’s simply not ready for the big time. Instead, it feels like a slick junior college film class project. The film is way too slow, the video photography far too bland and flat, and the would-be profound dialogue and life lessons the film tries to impart far too heavy-handed to be taken seriously. Thyme, a fresh-faced young Rod Stewart lookalike, does his best to drag the film along with his unflappable demeanor, but there’s just nothing there into which to sink your teeth.
Because let’s face it: If Trevor Phelps has nothing better to do with his life than walk clear across New York City for a single job interview, then why should we think this twenty-first century slacker has anything so profound to say that we need to listen to it?
