Mark Christopher - writer-director of the hit Miramax drama 54 (1998) - returns to the helmer's chair for the first occasion in eight years with the indie comedy Pizza, from IFC Films. An unofficial homage to mid-80s teen films, the picture concerns Cara-Ethyl (Kylie Sparks), an overweight high-schooler whose mom (screen vet Julie Hagerty) lost her sight in a baking accident. Despondent and lonely as her eighteenth birthday arrives and passes - not to mention embarrassed by her lack of friends - Cara attempts to save face by lying to her mother and pretending that she's expecting a whole host of guests. She then impersonates the "friends" one at a time in front of her mother. When thirty-something pizza delivery guy Matt turns up, Cara falls instantly in love; he then invites her to accompany him, into the night, on his pizza route. As Matt inducts Cara into the area's social realm - replete with bed-hopping flatmates, deadhead teenage addicts and obstinate employers - a friendship forms between the two. Joey Kern, Alexis Dziena and Judah Friedlander co-star. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi