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Thirty-one year old Tommy Basilio is at the lowest point of his life: he got fired for stealing $1500 out of his store’s cash register to gamble it all away in Atlantic City and finds it almost impossible to find another job because of it, and his girlfriend Connie dumped him for his former employer, who is now carrying his ex-boss’s child.

Tommy lives in Coney Island above the Trees Lounge, the neighborhood bar, where he drowns his sorrows in alcohol and seeks solace in the local bar-crawlers. No matter how hard Tommy tries, he can’t seem to better himself, so prefers to live his life in a drunken stupor.

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All of that changes when he tries to find life outside of the bar that he has become so accustomed to and meets the seventeen year old niece of his ex-girlfriend (Debbie), who could possibly be the meaning of his life that he has been looking for, despite how complicated the situation becomes or who is against their being together.

Additional Facts:

• Nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature Film and Best Screenplay (1997) and for the Chlotrudis Award for Best Director (1997)
• Inspired by Buscemi’s own life (before he pursued acting) and John Cassavetes’s films
• Buscemi’s first full-length film that he wrote and directed
• Shot in only 24 days