The Lonely Crowd (dir. David St. Clair)

By: Adam Freed

First dates have never been easy.  The dating-app era certainly hasn’t done anything to change this age-old narrative.  While technology has eliminated the need for traditional early relationship banalities, it has introduced an entirely new set of hurdles.  For Peter, a former professional baseball player, his luck with post-career relationships has been middling at best.   This all promises to change when an online app leads him to Ashley, and the two agree to progress from digital communication to a good old fashioned face to face first date. Just as this romantic premise begins to wade into achingly familiar waters, Director David St. Clair spins his romantic thriller The Lonely Crowd in a captivating and dangerous new direction.  Offering a palpable level of chemistry from twin lead performers Adam Wesley (Where the Shadows Wait, Not Every Woman) and Taylor Anne Danehower (His Wife is Back and She’s Stunning, Murder at the Merriweather), St. Clair’s modestly budgeted independent film outpaces the limitations of its construction offering a unique brand of 21st century romance. 

Without question the lifeblood of The Lonely Crowd is the magnetism that radiates between Taylor Anne Danehower and Adam Wesley.  As Ashley and Peter respectively, the two juggle their obvious attraction to one another with the dangerous baggage that Ashley brings into their first date care of a violent ex, recently escaped from prison.  Danehower, who strikes a resounding resemblance to an early 90s Courtney Cox, could very easily have fallen into the trap of playing Ashley as a damsel in distress, but the actress never gives away her strength or independence, either in pursuit of her safety, or her growing desire to be with Peter.  The Lonely Crowd never dims the luster between Ashley and Peter by throwing them into a cliche sexual situation, rather each moment in which a genuine bond feels it is being formed, an added layer of danger is introduced.  To this end, David St. Clair as writer serves his own best interest as director.

Despite the clear strength of its chemistry, it would be disingenuous to ignore the fact that The Lonely Crowd presents as a little thin in the area of editing. Most notable of these distractions are a series of extended montage-like transitions that neither serve the film’s narrative or the audience.  While there is a semblance of established setting within the transitions, their pacing and placement throughout the film are more distracting than they are a product of function.  Within the same realm, The Lonely Crowd victimizes itself on more than one occasion.  The result of shots that linger several frames longer than necessary or others that cut prior to allowing the bulk of visual detail to sink in, is the creation of a pace that presents inconsistently.  While this may not register with all viewers, it impacts the cohesiveness of a film that operates across multiple genres.  The result is a propulsive independent film that tends to occasionally show the seams of its construction.

Target Score 7/10 - The Lonely Crowd is a distinctly watchable independent film from Director David St. Clair.  The romantic thriller boasts two memorable performances from leads Adam Wesley and Taylor Anne Danehower, whose uncanny chemistry represents the film’s unquestioned strength.