Film shot locally now out on video

It took more than four years to get here, but a film that was shot in and around Freehold in the summer of 2000 is now available.

“Grownups,” a romantic comedy starring John Stamos, Daniel London, Meredith Salenger and Tara Westwood, has been renamed “My Best Friend’s Wife” and is available for rent at local video stores. The video was released in late September.

“Hey all, it’s official,” said writer/producer Mitch Galane. “I do know for a fact that it is available at Blockbuster and Netflix. Hooray for us!

“The film got dumped unceremoniously to Blockbuster and other video chains with no extras, no behind the scenes, no deleted scenes, no commentary, no trailer, no language selection, not even an interactive menu,” he noted.

“Grownups” was screened to some success at film festivals but never had a commercial release.

“We had a semi-successful run in the festival circuit, winning audience awards at the San Jose Cinequest Film Festival and the Rhode Island International Film Festival,” Galane said. “We won best comedy at the Breckinridge Film Festival, but there are so many independent films nowadays, we couldn’t get interest from a big company.”

— Dave Benjamin