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Currently Playing: THE RUG HUSTLER | Omeleto

A man sells rugs. Willie is a down-on-his-luck traveling carpet salesman whose van has broken down. To fix it, he sells his rugs by the roadside to raise money for the repairs. No one comes by except for a woman named Ruthie. But Ruthie doesn't want to buy -- she wants to sell a fancy rug to Willie. She says there was a death in her family and she's in charge of selling off the possessions, and she's willing to cut Willie a deal to get it off her hands. She's even willing to throw in the cake in the car that was meant for the wake. Little does Willie know that he's been haplessly caught up in a scam by local shysters. Befuddled and bumbling, Willie finds himself accosted at all sides as he tries to work out what exactly is happening. Directed and written by Russ Lamoureux, this eccentric short comedy is big on laidback, sundazed vibes and quirky detail, ambling its way through a tall tale set in Fresno County, California. Willie is a salesman in a tough spot who finds himself vulnerable as the mark of a local scam around a valuable rug that he acquires. But as the ends get tied and the loops get closed, the knot unravels with a keen irony and a bit of a mischievous wink. Reminiscent of the early Coen Brothers comedies, the Cali-baked narrative with a drawl feels a bit like an anecdote told during a drunken night at a bar. Captured in sun-bleached, warmly dusty cinematography and shot with Panavision, it starts off seemingly random and discursive, distracted by colorful detail and characters that ramble in and out of the action, only to slyly come around and end with a zing. We meet Willie as he's set up a temp shop by the side of a highway, which is mostly empty until a scrappy housewife drives by. She's got a rug she wants to unload, and she'll sell it to him for a bargain, though it's much more valuable than that. Tempted less by the rug than perhaps the free cake she throws in, he takes on the rug. The storytelling is divided into sections that lay out each player of the scam that Willie finds himself embroiled in. Each is witty and cleverly written, with an eye for character detail and brought to life by an excellent ensemble, led most vividly by Emmy-nominated actor Constance Zimmer as the sharp, fast-talking Ruthie. Actor Patrick Wilkins is the confused, seemingly passive Willie, happy to go along with what's going on. He seems no match for the local scam artists, who judge him as a chump. But as it turns out, they've taken for granted an essential detail. That reveal is droll, outlandish and surprisingly fantastical. And it's pretty much the cherry on top for THE RUG HUSTLER, keeping in line with its intent to amuse, entertain and spin a yarn with humor, sly wit and just a bit of magic. THE RUG HUSTLER. Courtesy of Russ Lamoureux at https://russlamoureux.com.