ULurking in Suburbia

A small-town writer takes pause to reassess his wild life of drunken debauchery in director Mitchell Altieri's reflective comedy drama.

Conrad Stevens (Joe Egender), a semi-shiftless and quietly fun-loving grown-up kid who's growing just a little bit tired of his extended battle with arrested development is about to turn thirty. Yet despite his wild nights spent partying with his roommates at the bachelor pad they've taken to calling "The Palace," Connie can't help but feeling that something is missing from his once-charmed life. Feeling stifled in his suburban hometown and trapped in an endless cycle of raucous boozing and non-committal babes, Conrad decides that maybe it's time to make a change from the ordinary and break the everyday cycle.

Much of Lurking in Suburbia focuses on the conversations, preparations of Connie's all-in-one-day birthday adventure. That sees his friends/roommates preparing for the granddaddy party of all. While sharing all sorts of arguments, debates, worries, and concerns. The frequent conversations actually feel like realistic banter between grown-up goofballs who are well aware of their generations' collective shortcomings.

Mitchell Altieri's Lurking in Suburbia is surprisingly engaging. Despite a plot synopsis that feels exceedingly familiar to "American pie", Lurking is a sly, personal, and low-key indie comedy that manages to become more accessible and likable the longer it goes on.