Ten Inch Hero

A sandwich shop in a Californian beach town. Four people work there: Piper, who has come to find the daughter she gave up years ago; Priestly, covered in tattoos and piercings; Jen, in love with a man she met online; and Tish, who trusts nothing except her own looks. The film runs the four stories together across one summer. David Mackay directs. Jensen Ackles, Danneel Harris, Elisabeth Harnois, Clea DuVall and Sean Patrick Flanery are in the cast. Its fate is odd. It played festivals in 2007, never found proper distribution, and for years could only be seen online. It gathered a loyal audience regardless, largely on the visibility Jensen Ackles had from Supernatural. The best thing in it is Priestly, written as someone permanently judged on his appearance, which is the film's only real subject: what people decide in the first second of looking at each other. The tone is light, the conflicts are small, and no strand ends badly. Who it is for: viewers who like small independent romantic comedy and ensemble pieces. Who it is not for: two of the four stories never develop, and Piper's search for her daughter does not sit with anything else in the film.