Another rough night at the bar for aimless twentysomething Jillian (Jess Weixler) spells an even rougher morning when her best friend Nancy asks her to cover her all-day shift doling out free samples from Mike's Dream ice cream truck—all before she's even had her first cup of coffee. Her fiancé Danny is "distant" to say the least, and her decision to take a semester off from Stanford Law is feeling more and more permanent every day. But this is just the tip of the iceberg when Jillian's hangover is met with a quirky cast of quirky dessert-seeking Angelenos, all of whom get more sass than they bargained for.
Wryly scripted from start to finish, Free Samples is a quarter-life comedy about a life that isn't going exactly as planned. Jess Weixler (Teeth, Alexander the Last) shines as the disgruntled Jillian, always reminding us there's heart behind the snarky wit. Jesse Eisenberg, Jason Ritter, and Halley Feiffer each add something special to their characters, and the great Tippi Hedren makes a wise foil for the young folks.
CAST & CREDITS
Directed by Jay Gammill and Jay Gammill
Jay Gammill graduated from the MFA directing program at USC, where he wrote and directed his award-winning short August. His post-production credits include Biography's Johnny Cash's America, PBS' The Independent Lens: The Cool School, and projects for CollegeHumor.com, VH1, and Generosity Water.
Producer
Eben Kostbar, Joseph McKelheer
Director
Jay Gammill
Composer
Eric Elbogen
Screenwriter
Jim Beggarly
Primary Cast
Jess Weixler, Jesse Eisenberg, Jason Ritter, Halley Feiffer, Tippi Hedren