The Last Best Sunday (USA, 1999, 101 minutes)

Anchored by an extraordinary leading performance from actress Angela Bettis as a young woman from a repressed religious family who finds love and adventure without leaving the house, this exciting and surprisingly sophisticated directorial debut from “Happy Days” actor Don Most (he played Ralph Malph) manages to overcome an underwritten subplot and unnecessary third act padding to emerge as an involving drama that subverts the cliches inherent in its story.

Bettis shines as Lolly Ann, who is left to her own devices over a weekend when her fundamentalist parents travel out of town. While this is happening, young Mexican dishwasher Joseph (Douglas Spain), on the run from a rash act of shocking violence in retribution for his treatment at the hands of a couple of crachers, breaks into Lolly Ann’s house to avoid capture by the local sheriff (William Lucking), who has only until Monday morning before giving up his job to newly-elected deputy Craig Wasson. At this point Karen Kelly’s script shines, as the two young people from entirely different worlds bring a fresh spin to an overused situation. Bettis in particular is hypnotically intense, commanding center stage with a series of revelatory monologues. It is only later in the movie, as the sheriff’s search brings him closer to his prey and the new lovers make a break for freedom, that the movie loses its way. Until then, The Last Best Sunday is something special, a familiar story given new life by a director who has clearly embraced television’s often misunderstood and underused knack for combining drama and comedy.