For those of you out there who never watch short films, you don't know what you're missing. Too often these niche films are only shown at film festivals, which is nice, but I've seen more than one that deserves to be seen by a wider audience. That's the case with a short by Marco Carvalho called Overloaded. It's a great premise done in exactly the right amount of time, and leaves you wanting just a bit more.

Here's the story: Josh is on vacation in L.A., and since he's very young and not too bright, he decides that buying a car is going to be the best way to get around town while he's there. When he arrives at his cousin Kip's house, it's obvious that Josh hasn't thought through his vacation too well. But, it's really Kip's roommate, Hank, who notices that something is very wrong with Josh's new ride. The car rides very low in the rear because there's a dead body in there! Now, the three companions have to find a way to get rid of the body without implicating themselves in the crime!

Overloaded is hysterical fun, especially the war veteran roommate Hank, Bob Bancroft plays him to cynical perfection! And Nick Afanasiev is amazing as the slightly dim witted Josh, which makes Christopher Guetig's Kip the man in the middle of the mayhem, slightly put out by being stuck between the dim witted and the slightly angry. Overloaded had me laughing and truly enjoying myself. I found myself rewinding the movie more than once, as I laughed so much I couldn't hear the next line in the movie. I'm giving Overloaded 4 out of 4 cigars, it's less than a half an hour long, but it's long enough to tell you the joke and leave you wondering what's going to happen next! Writer/director Marco Carvalho can be very proud of himself, he's created a great story with some truly memorable characters, and I'd love to see them in a longer movie! You can find out more about this unlikely trio by heading over to http://www.marcoac.com.