Watchdog

Ball Don't Lie, 102 minutes.

This is another of the non-documentary films in the festival, and it has some pretty big names in it, including Ludacris, Rosanna Arquette and Grayson (The Professor) Boucher.

So I'm not really clear on why it doesn't have a distribution deal yet. But that's not my department.

The film, based on the novel "Ball Don't Lie" concerns a white, street basketball player whose life is far more messed up than those of his poor black and Latino friends, as one of those friends memorably explains to him late in the movie.

There is no dramatic new ground broken here, but the basketball scenes ring true, the seedy side of L.A. is depicted effectively and for once the love interest of the high school jock - actress Kim Hidalgo - actually could pass for a high school-aged kid.

The hip hop soundtrack was cool, too. Not that I'm an expert.