Comedian Kelly Monteith Announces the Launch of “A Lousy 10 Grand” Web Site

The veteran comedian and the only American comedian to have had his own series on the BBC, has shepherded his independent film comedy, “A Lousy 10 Grand” from script to production to completion and now, finally, to the internet marketplace.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) July 10, 2007 -- Can a film deal with some of the most contentious issues of our times, among them immigration, economic pressures on the middle class, the threat of terrorism and still be a comedy? Kelly Monteith thinks so. The film, "A Lousy 10 Grand" (www.alousy10grand.com), which he wrote, directed and appears in, not only touches on these topics but others not as weighty, such as the lure of poker as a conduit to instant wealth.

In it Monteith plays Ted Beckerwith, an aerospace worker, a designer of “space toilets” and a suburban dad who’s up to his eyeballs in debt. Detoured into a casino by a massive traffic jam, he impulsively sits at a poker table and in no time the winnings begin piling up. Instead of walking away with his windfall, Monteith’s character presses his luck and ends up losing $10,000 to a grandfatherly gent who, he soon learns, is a ruthless loan shark. How he decides to come up with the 10 grand is the crux of the movie.

Monteith weighs in on his character’s predicament: “I think it was Chaplin who said, ‘comedy is a man in trouble’. Well, Ted’s in trouble.” Trouble in the form of two goons who begin dunning him for the money. When the shakedowns become more violent, a desperate Ted agrees to take money, assume another identity and secretly marry an exchange student, a princess from oil-rich “Suderia”. With her ruling family wiped out in a coup, the girl is stranded here alone and in limbo, a victim of the politics of oil.

“Immigration is such a volatile issue," says Monteith, "and I understand how some people might have a negative reaction to what Ted does, especially in relation to the area she’s from. But what makes for much of the comedy (www.alousy10grand.com) is her transition from this repressed, sheltered woman into an assertive, American princess and its affect on Ted. To me though, the heart of the film is the ‘middle class squeeze’ that so many Americans are caught in.”

Monteith warms to the subject: “Look, here’s a middle class guy struggling to keep afloat, living paycheck to paycheck. Okay, he does a stupid thing but when he’s up against it, he has absolutely no cushion to fall back on. He’s scared, way out of his depth, so he takes an easy way out thinking it will solve everything. But of course that always makes things worse.”

The cast is made up many of Monteith’s friends and acquaintances from the comedy world, as well as newcomers such as Bahar Soomekh, who plays the Suderian princess. Since then she’s gone on to a major role in “Crash” as well as a part in “Mission Impossible III” that Monteith likes to think came about from her work on “A Lousy 10 Grand”.

“She’s just billed as ‘Bahar' in our film. With our budget I guess we couldn’t afford her last name.” He admits his budget was miniscule by Hollywood standards but when asked for a figure gives the standard, indy-prod answer, “Under a million," adding, "though it looks more expensive than it was. Generally our production values are high quality.”

Given the difficulties and financial stress of making an independent film (www.alousy10grand.com), would he do it again? Monteith doesn’t hesitate. “In a heart beat." Is he satisfied with the results? Monteith ponders before answering: "You know the old saying, ‘one man’s laugh is another man’s yawn’. Some will like it, some won’t. But for what it is, a modest comedy, I think it turned out pretty damn good."

You can preview the film at www.alousy10grand.com.

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