Like a cinema vérité version of THE DAYTRIPPERS, writer-director Andrew Wagner's quirky indie dramedy THE TALENT GIVEN US fashions a hilarious, unconventional, but ultimately moving take on family values. In an inspired bit of casting, Wagner taps his real-life parents and sisters for the fictional roles of a dysfunctional family on a revelatory cross-country road trip. Allen (Allen Wagner) and Judy (Judy Wagner) are an elderly retired couple living on Manhattan's Upper West Side when they spontaneously decide to visit their estranged son, Andrew (Wagner), in Los Angeles. Opting to drive instead of fly, Judy and Allen invite their two grown daughters, self-absorbed Emily (Emily Wagner) and the more down-to-earth Maggie (Maggie Wagner), for an attempt at family togetherness that ends up becoming a funny but oddly healing group therapy session. To further muddle the line between reality and fiction, Wagner himself helms the handheld digital camera for an added dimension of nearly unbearable intimacy.