When Wes Murray (Jonathan C. Legat) returns to his hometown to go to the wake of a girl his brother dated, he feels completely out of his element and ends up hanging out in the bar at the hotel the wake is held in. It is here that he meets Lauren Brunner (Stephanie Wyatt), a vivacious redhead who feels similarly alienated even though she was a former friend of the deceased.
As they begin to grow inebriated, they find themselves drawn to each other and start to notice that the other person brings out things in their personality that they don't often get to demonstrate. As they while away the night, both start to compare the person they are sharing a nightcap with to the loveless relationships they both find themselves in. After a drunken kiss goodnight, they part ways, presumably forever.
Wes returns to Cincinatti, where he works at an employment agency, trying to find jobs for people who don't really want jobs, while expending his down time by pecking away at a script that his fiancée Morgan (Emily Skyle) doesn't really understand.
Meanwhile, Lauren returns to Chicago, where she works as wedding photographer and puts up with her deadbeat boyfriend Dan (Adam Rosowicz) who, despite being a total loudmouth cretin, manages to convince her mother that he's suave and refined.
Both protagonists are miserable and spend the next year thinking about one another and about changing the lives they lead, which, as they confessed in that bar, has involved coasting, rather than doing anything.
A year later however, a series of circumstances thrusts them back into one another's paths and, at this point, they will have to decide what they will do with their thoughts, desires, and passions.
The folks at CNGM Pictures are a delightful little band of filmmakers and actors that seem to produce a feature film about once a year. As far as I can tell, everyone takes turns at different things, from writing to producing to directing to location scouting to acting. 2008's White Out featured Jonathan C. Legat as the lead, with writer David B. Grelck directing. This year, David co-wrote the film with director Michael P. Noens as well as produced.
I like it when a troupe forms like CNGM, because they essentially take the idea behind the old-school theater troupe and bring it into the 21st century of cinema. And like the troupes actors of yesteryear, the members of this group help one another refine their craft so that each film that's released is better than the one before.
The story arc of Coasting is very interesting, as it essentially combines something like Clerks with Sleepless in Seattle. It asks whether two people who are essentially too listless to change their circumstances will change their lives if they meet the right inspiration. Then, it throws in a twist.
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