Robert DeFranco's minor indie film, "Telling You," which came and went in a handful of platform theaters before being shipped off to video has a surprising array of young stars, most of which are put to no good use. Phil (Peter Facinelli) and Dennis (Dash Mihok) are two recent college graduates who work at a pizza place together and are unsure of what they are going to do with their life, questioning some of the things they may have done differently. If "Telling You" had concentrated on the characters, the film may have worked, as the performances are fairly good, particularly by Mihok and Gina Philips, as Mihok's ex-girlfriend from high school, and one flawlessly written and subtle scene between the two late in the picture almost saves it. Alas, the film gets bogged down in cliches and amateurish overplotting, with the other central character's (Phil) plight left frustratingly hanging. Jennifer Love Hewitt, the biggest star in the cast, has a throwaway, one-dimensional role as Phil's bubbly, talkative ex, but she does her best with what she's given, which is next to nothing.

©1999 by Dustin Putman