Her night changes with the arrival of Matt Firenze (Ethan Embry), a 30 year-old pizza delivery guy. He sees what�s going on and feels kind of sorry for the girl. When she begs him to let her ride along for an evening�s worth of deliveries, he agrees. The next few hours change both their lives, as Cara-Ethyl fulfills some personal goals and learns self-respect, and Matt faces some uncomfortable truths about his dead-end life.

What Pizza has going for it is a solid performance from Embry, who has brought a likeability to films such as Can�t Hardly Wait, That Thing You Do! and even Vegas Vacation. The actor shows us several dimensions to Matt, making us feel that he�s a guy trying to hide his pain in a fa�ade of nonchalance. It�s an interesting character, well-played. To her credit, Sparks (a former �ER� guest star) believably makes Cara-Ethyl a weird outcast, and we can understand why nobody likes her. Then again, that may not be such a great thing for the audience.

The movie may have interest for some viewers. In addition to Embry�s fine work, there are certainly a few laugh-out-loud moments along the way, and a couple of scenes play out to effectively show how Cara-Ethyl�s low self-esteem impacts her life. But for me, Pizza was a little too precious. For starters, the characters in this movie don�t talk like real people; they all talk like overly clever screenwriters. The dialogue never rings true because it�s always full of the stylized witticism of a screenplay that�s trying to be funny.

The relationship between Matt and Cara-Ethyl is also less than convincing. We�re supposed to believe that a night of outrageous events � seeing a naked man, sneaking into a club, baking a pizza that will cause Cara-Ethyl�s enemies to have uncontrollable flatulence when they eat it � creates a strong bond the characters. In truth, they bond because the script forces them to. I didn�t buy it for a second.

I think that writer/director Mark Christopher (54) had an interesting idea here, but he didn�t believe in the reality of it. The film often feels like an extended sitcom rather than a full-length motion picture. I wish it had taken a more in-depth approach at exploring the lives of Cara-Ethyl and Matt. There�s potentially something meaningful there; Pizza just doesn�t quite find it.

( 1/2 out of four)

Pizza is rated PG-13 for sexual content, language and a brief drug reference. The running time is 1 hour and 22 minutes.