Angels in Stardust (2016)

The challenges of growing up in a desolate Southern trailer park with an irresponsible, single mother A creative & smart 16 year-old girl (AJ Michalka) comes-of-age while living in a trailer park built on the site of a defunct drive-in movie theater in Central/West Texas. She finds solace in her (imaginary?) relationship with a mystical cowboy (Billy Burke) while dealing with the challenges of her man-hungry single mother (Alicia Silverstone) and her troubled little brother, who has an affinity for a Native neighbor, Tenkill (Michael Spears). Released in 2014, this was director William Robert Carey’s first-and-only film based on his 2013 novel “Jesus in Cowboy Boots,” which was the movie’s original title. It’s an offbeat, mundane and gritty drama with one fantasy component; it’s definitely not a comedy as advertised elsewhere. Similar quirky films that come to mind include “Michael” (1996), “Dreamland” (2006), “Don’t Come Knocking” (2005), “Mud” (2012) and “Joe” (2013). It has the fantasy element of “Michael,” the trailer-in-the-desert setting of “Dreamland” and the ugly redneck drama of the other three, as well as the indie artiness of “Don’t Come Knocking.” It lacks the great amusement and positivity of “Michael,” but it’s arguably on par with the others, just different. Silverstone was a hot item in the mid/late 90s and early 2000s, but she has since sorta faded away. The last movie I remember her in was from a decade earlier, “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” (2004). Here she was 37 during shooting playing a 31 year-old woman (who looks older) desperate to settle down with a man before she’s over-the-hill. She had a couple of kids during those ten years and so put on a little noticeable weight; yet she’s still a stunning babe, just with more “mileage,” as it’s put in the movie. The film runs 1 hour, 39 minutes and was shot in Agua Dulce & Santa Clarita, California. GRADE: B-/C+