Devon Ull I am retired, I watch movies every day, I collect them and I only stumbled across this gem in 2017. There should be more than just 23 reviews of this wonderful film so I am adding mine. I thought the movie Clerks was brilliant, and I think this movie is similarly brilliant. Similar themes, similar presentation, similar degree of profundity, but Free Samples is much more friendly and the acting is far more charming. And the charm stays with you as you contemplate the possibilities.

jahhdog I wanted to like this movie. I am a fan of many of the actors in the film but the problem wasn't them but the characters they were portraying...I couldn't find anything to like about any of them... The characters all seemed like whiners to me... Oh my Dad is a big bad lawyer, my brother is an addict, I'm in a crappy band... I got a crappy cowboy hat! Why would you bother with the main character at all? Sure she is cute but she is also a mean bitch... She treats everyone like crap and then runs crying to someone else when she gets some bad news...Stay away... Time waster...5 howls outta 10...ArrOOoo!

Christine Merser She's a Stanford Law School dropout, ostensibly taking a year off to figure out why law school isn't motivating her, and she ends up sitting in an ice cream truck for a day, giving away free samples to cover for a friend who has to do an intervention for her brother. Sound familiar? I'm sorry to hear that. Free Samples is a look into the lonely, solitary journey each of us needs to take to find out what might be the calling to end all callings. It's also a humorous attempt to show that nerds are totally enticing, weirdos are human, and the elderly have stories worth slowing down to hear. Women should love this movie. It has it all. Thus begins my Free Samples Movie Review.Jillian, our dropout, is played by Jess Weixler, whom you may recognize from the TV series The Good Wife. She is in three movies this year, and judging from her brilliant performance in Free Samples, she will be a household name before too long. She owns the screen, not in that Julia Roberts way, but rather in the way of a normal, good-looking person. Sarcasm drips from her lips like honey, providing perspective rather than destroying it. She lets her guard down just twice during the film; once when she is listening to the tales of a former movie star, and again at the end when she agrees to allow a man named Tex (played by Jessie Eisenberg, whom we all have grown to love and trust) to seduce her into giving him a chance. Both moments scream through the rest of her otherwise reserved performance, finally letting us see what is going on inside her shell.There is a point in the movie when she is crying about a lover who has just dumped her, and she admits that the reason she is crying is because she cannot believe she wasted so much time on someone she didn't really care about — and certainly never loved. It was a relief to see her articulate on the screen the dirty secret many of us carry, a feeling that is so real to so many women. Settle, we tell ourselves. Be comfortable. Accept boredom. Bury the passion. Oh, the lives we can lead without fighting!We never see the ice cream. I wanted to see the ice cream. I wanted to see more of the inside of the truck. I want to know more about what she might have become. I am clueless. And while I'm sure the ambiguous ending was all part of the point of the movie, I want to know there is more than just the hope she can end up with a good guy like Tex. (He really is a good guy, isn't he?) I want to know that she will find something to be passionate about, something that will motivate her to action. What will she do with her days after the reel ends?The direction is great — there is none. Jay Gammill, who looks like he's ten, has a fresh approach to direction, and it works. Just point the camera at the day's events unfolding around a truck. Nice. You feel as if there is a chair from KMart set up in front of the truck and you are sitting there with popcorn in your lap, watching a young woman crankily giving out samples of bad ice cream and the lessons she and those sampling learn along the way. Fabulous.See it.

Steve Pulaski With the abundance of mainstream comedies and the enormously boastful raunchiness sure to hit in the forthcoming summer of 2013, it's only a fact that the Jay Gammill's directorial debut Free Samples will get shafted. Even on the far-reaching scope of video-on-demand, this one is sure to be either dismissed or criminally looked over. This is unfortunate seeing how it is easily one of the spriest independent comedies to be released on video-on-demand in some time.Due to the increase in college attendance in recent years and the fact that numbers for graduates are increasing, it is not surprising to see many films made by young people staring young people about being young people. In a society like the one aforementioned, these kinds of films are essential. They provide the audience with qualities that are relatable and realistic to a generation that will always be marginally shortchanged and misunderstood. Films like Free Samples can't perfectly articulate post-adolescence but they can certainly help ease the pain.The film stars Jess Weixler as Jillian, a law-school dropout who agrees to man an ice cream van that is supposed to remain stationary in a small town distributing free samples to passersby. Hungover, moody, and quick-witted, Jillian distributes the ice cream samples with large amounts of attitude and condescending wit that is equal parts rude and hilarious. In the middle of this, she begins to piece together last night as if it was a hazy detectives story. She recalls a hookup with Tex (Jesse Eisenberg), who shows up to try and help her remember, and tries to end a relationship that has simply run its course during this day, as well as dealing with every strange soul on the face of the earth.Consistent readers will recognize this as further proof of my love for not only independent films but one-setting pictures. Writer Jim Beggarly's loose but interesting character study-focus combined with Gammill's studious, controlled direction (never too watery, never too dry) make this film stand on its own two feet nicely. Weixler, who was the supporting role last year in The Lie as a wife whose husband tells an unforgiving lie in order to evade responsibility and work, gives a gifted performance here. It's a performance that's morose enough to keep us apprehensive towards her character but just likable and funny enough to keep us watching in smiles.Eisenberg doesn't have as big of a role as you may think, despite being top billing, and yet he isn't used for his name either. It doesn't appear as stunt casting, giving Eisenberg's name still isn't yet on the list of A-listers (although it should be). He's the kind of actor that no matter how mainstream he gets he will likely never adopt the actory presence stars get when they've clearly evolved from humble beginnings to landmark actors. I can see Eisenberg always remaining slightly to the left of the mainstream focus, which is where I like him the best.Free Samples, if had maybe a few thousand dollars less in its budget, could've been a film more categorized as "mumblecore" rather than just another independent film. The watermark would've likely got it shoved around more in local, more reclusive circuits and more discussion within the collegian demographic. Nonetheless, it deserves success on its own merits for having quietly entertaining writing and smart, reserved direction. If you feel the need to gamble one night with your video-on-demand purchase, I couldn't see a better film to roll the dice on.Starring: Jess Weixler, Jesse Eisenberg, and Jason Ritter. Directed by: James Gammill.