相貌酷似王宝强的贾东晓（黄晋琨 饰），有着同“许三多”一样的执着与憨傻。他渴望在大都市实现自己的梦想，同时也在忍受着群租、没钱吃饭、被隔壁做爱声骚扰的痛苦煎熬。 非主流女孩米小萱（谷倖仪 饰），风风火火地从北京来投靠贾东晓，不是情侣的二人，出于生存所迫，竟然每晚睡在同一张床上。 庞克女琳琳（吴恩旋 饰），被歌手男友甩了之后，整日蜗居不出，严重自闭，引发了邻居贾东晓的怜悯。 IT男李微软（李之浩 饰），每月拿着1万多的高薪，却也和贾东晓等人群租在老弄堂的阁楼里，沉默寡言，生活了无生趣，直到米小萱出现在他的眼前，一切发生了改变。 四个为了梦想来到大都市打拼的年轻人，两段令人唏嘘的感情，一个每个都市外来人都能找到自己身影的故事。四个角色，有人留下，有人离开，有苦涩，也有美好，有欢笑，更有年轻的泪水…… 一段坑爹的爱情，一场苦逼的喜剧 。
Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley's early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch. Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career. Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality (though using sex for several years); obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively – and simultaneously – complex and simple. Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich (e.g., her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot – culminating her doing nude (but unseen) work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc.) As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance. A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life. Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone ("I'm a mechanic"), yet the symbolism is rich: he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy (is, in fact a virgin), and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well. The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense. Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable. What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is. A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played. The scene between Josh and Jane (a wonderful, young Edie Falco . . . "You need a woman not a girl") is hilarious . . . real. But Hartley can't leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue over-and-over becomes frustratingly "arty" and annoying . . . until again it becomes hilarious. What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film (like kids in a perpetual "am not"/"are too" argument). Hartley's weaves all of a small neighborhood's idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the "unbelievable truth" of the title is, yet no two people can agree (including our hero) on what exactly that truth is. A wonderful little movie with some big ideas.
