Movie Review: Ambiguous Indifference
by Amanda Purser
The big screen debut for the indie, small-town comedy, Ambiguous Indifference was at the Vaska Theater on Oct. 28, 2024. With a shoestring budget, the film managed to present a seasoned and eclectic cast, settings in multiple locations — including Houston, Texas, and featured great shots and picture quality.
Battling the strong winds, shifty weather, and unpredictable elements in Southwest Oklahoma is no small feat. The film’s final audio sounded unaffected, despite the challenges in production, which undoubtedly required a hefty amount of editing. There were some issues with volume control that had a minor impact on the viewing experience, but that was strictly from the theater itself, not a reflection of the film.
The use of camera angles and especially the drone footage made the film often feel that it was a product of a much larger budget, thanks to the experienced crew and technical editing. I appreciated the local southwest Oklahoma scenery and the way they kept the locations simple while still representing various aspects of the story from a variety of locations.
I found the storyline to be intriguing and enticing enough to capture and hold my attention through the relatively short yet feature length runtime. There was realistic dialogue and comedic timing, and the inferences with acting and body language gave a lot away with showing, rather than telling.
The main character Dooley was played by Dan Perrin, who was the inspiration behind the character. Dooley presented as an ideal southerner, but possessed a hidden talent as a gifted writer, which was creative and a bit unique for the genre’s tropes. I liked all the characters in the film, but I personally felt there wasn’t a lot of development in any one of them.
I think my only qualm was with the timeline, which I felt could have been better executed. The story seemed to be a bit rushed, and the time that was supposed to be taking place (or lapsing) wasn’t represented to the viewer accurately. For instance, when Dooley wrote the book, it was difficult to determine how much time had passed. I thought it was the same day at first, but I could have overlooked a detail or indicator of the time change. I think if that was a bit clearer, it would have made for an even better storyline.
I liked the twist with the assistant stealing the story from Dooley, although it was a bit unrealistic for him to have made that decision so quickly. It was likely that the assistant would have doubted Dooley’s abilities, but he didn’t have enough time to read the manuscript and determine the writing quality, from those few minutes. The story could have included a scene where the assistant was reading the manuscript later, which is reasonable for a large publishing company. Cheryl could have asked if there was anything promising within the stack of submissions and the assistant would have told her “No,” and then slipped the manuscript into his bag.
After the publishing company scene in the film there wasn’t a clear way to determine how much time had passed, from when the book was stolen to when it was published. That could have been covered with another scene between Dooley and Mandy, perhaps? Especially since their relationship was on the rocks. That would have also given another opportunity to illustrate Mandy’s identity crisis. Then, Dooley would have had the scene with George and discovered the book had been published and that would have added to the tension and raised the stakes a bit, in my opinion.
Overall, I enjoyed the film and felt it was well done for the budget and timeframe of production, especially considering some of the issues the team had to contend with. I think having won best actress in one of the two film festivals that it was accepted in so far, shows that Ambiguous Indifference has a great cast and did a lot with the practical resources they had. I would recommend the movie to anyone looking for a new take on a small-town comedy with lighthearted concepts.
Amanda Purser is an Army combat veteran, a mother of four girls and a published author. She owns and operates a small indie publishing company, Queensbriar Press in Southwest Oklahoma where she resides and writes. In 2023 she returned to school at Cameron University to complete a Bachelor of Art in Journalism and Media Production, with a minor in Communications. Amanda has been a Social Media Ambassador and volunteer for a non-profit organization, Oklahoma Blood Institute, since 2023. She has published two novels, Cost of Closure and Cost of Progress, and is currently working on the third book in the cost series. At Cameron, Amanda works on news broadcasts, directs a student show and is a copy editor for the Collegian newspaper. She will be graduating in May of 2026 and plans to pursue a master’s degree in publishing.
by Amanda Purser
The big screen debut for the indie, small-town comedy, Ambiguous Indifference was at the Vaska Theater on Oct. 28, 2024. With a shoestring budget, the film managed to present a seasoned and eclectic cast, settings in multiple locations — including Houston, Texas, and featured great shots and picture quality.
Battling the strong winds, shifty weather, and unpredictable elements in Southwest Oklahoma is no small feat. The film’s final audio sounded unaffected, despite the challenges in production, which undoubtedly required a hefty amount of editing. There were some issues with volume control that had a minor impact on the viewing experience, but that was strictly from the theater itself, not a reflection of the film.
The use of camera angles and especially the drone footage made the film often feel that it was a product of a much larger budget, thanks to the experienced crew and technical editing. I appreciated the local southwest Oklahoma scenery and the way they kept the locations simple while still representing various aspects of the story from a variety of locations.
I found the storyline to be intriguing and enticing enough to capture and hold my attention through the relatively short yet feature length runtime. There was realistic dialogue and comedic timing, and the inferences with acting and body language gave a lot away with showing, rather than telling.
The main character Dooley was played by Dan Perrin, who was the inspiration behind the character. Dooley presented as an ideal southerner, but possessed a hidden talent as a gifted writer, which was creative and a bit unique for the genre’s tropes. I liked all the characters in the film, but I personally felt there wasn’t a lot of development in any one of them.
I think my only qualm was with the timeline, which I felt could have been better executed. The story seemed to be a bit rushed, and the time that was supposed to be taking place (or lapsing) wasn’t represented to the viewer accurately. For instance, when Dooley wrote the book, it was difficult to determine how much time had passed. I thought it was the same day at first, but I could have overlooked a detail or indicator of the time change. I think if that was a bit clearer, it would have made for an even better storyline.
I liked the twist with the assistant stealing the story from Dooley, although it was a bit unrealistic for him to have made that decision so quickly. It was likely that the assistant would have doubted Dooley’s abilities, but he didn’t have enough time to read the manuscript and determine the writing quality, from those few minutes. The story could have included a scene where the assistant was reading the manuscript later, which is reasonable for a large publishing company. Cheryl could have asked if there was anything promising within the stack of submissions and the assistant would have told her “No,” and then slipped the manuscript into his bag.
After the publishing company scene in the film there wasn’t a clear way to determine how much time had passed, from when the book was stolen to when it was published. That could have been covered with another scene between Dooley and Mandy, perhaps? Especially since their relationship was on the rocks. That would have also given another opportunity to illustrate Mandy’s identity crisis. Then, Dooley would have had the scene with George and discovered the book had been published and that would have added to the tension and raised the stakes a bit, in my opinion.
Overall, I enjoyed the film and felt it was well done for the budget and timeframe of production, especially considering some of the issues the team had to contend with. I think having won best actress in one of the two film festivals that it was accepted in so far, shows that Ambiguous Indifference has a great cast and did a lot with the practical resources they had. I would recommend the movie to anyone looking for a new take on a small-town comedy with lighthearted concepts.
Amanda Purser is an Army combat veteran, a mother of four girls and a published author. She owns and operates a small indie publishing company, Queensbriar Press in Southwest Oklahoma where she resides and writes. In 2023 she returned to school at Cameron University to complete a Bachelor of Art in Journalism and Media Production, with a minor in Communications. Amanda has been a Social Media Ambassador and volunteer for a non-profit organization, Oklahoma Blood Institute, since 2023. She has published two novels, Cost of Closure and Cost of Progress, and is currently working on the third book in the cost series. At Cameron, Amanda works on news broadcasts, directs a student show and is a copy editor for the Collegian newspaper. She will be graduating in May of 2026 and plans to pursue a master’s degree in publishing.
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