A shiny silver street performer, making a living off of tips. A “permanent” temp, not knowing when she could get laid off. These kinds of jobs are not the conventional way of making a living, but in this heart-warming indie drama, stars Chris Messina (as Tim the street performer) and Jenna Fischer (as Janice) prove to others that they don’t have to pencil-push to live life the right way.

To be honest, I wasn’t looking for this movie to find Messina or Fischer, or the meaning behind life. I was on Netflix, looking for movies with Topher Grace (best known as Eric Forman on That ’70s Show). After finishing all of the seasons of That ’70s Show, I came to the realization I couldn’t get enough of Grace–or any of the other actors, really. Laura Prepon (Donna Pinciotti) was now in the new Netflix series Orange is the New Black, but I wasn’t in the mood for a TV series. I was in the mood for a good movie, and I never heard of Grace being in very many movies, save for Win a Date With Tad Hamilton. So, seeing that he was supposed to be in The Giant Mechanical Man, I decided to watch it.

Yet, after watching the first few endearing scenes of the movie, I completely forgot about Grace. I was swept up in this whole new world where nobody understands these main characters. Yet, I felt as if I could truly identify with them. There were these moments in the movie where I found myself beaming, laughing at the crazy things people said or widening my eyes during intense conversations. Half of the time I watched the movie, I had a sincere smile melted into my face. Now, call me crazy, but if a movie can cause its audience to feel the emotions with them, those actors are doing a pretty darn good job, and so are the screenwriters, directors and other behind the scenes people.

Eventually, in the midst of being sucked into the perspective of Janice (Fischer), that is when I discovered Grace’s role. His role was a dorky cheese-ball author who tried too hard to be liked. Either he did a great job of method acting, or he was wearing a wig, because his hair was long and to his shoulders. Most of the time he talked, I felt myself cringing. Grace really did play up that geeky part well, especially since I’m so used to his dorky-but-endearing role as Eric Forman.

I really loved the cinematography and the genuineness of the characters. I felt like I stepped into these people’s lives for an hour and twenty-nine minutes. I cherished their great moments and was frustrated at their awful ones. This movie is full of ups and downs and misunderstandings. The ending was sweet and hopeful. I give The Giant Mechanical Man four and a half stars out of five. If you want to see a down-to-earth, enlightening movie with a great cinema crew, I highly recommend this movie to you.