The portrayal of peoples attitudes towards other peoples physical differences, being they, handicapped in some way or skin colour is wonderfully enacted in this movie. How once you accept someone as just another human being, that person is able to achieve as well as the next person. Macy's portrayal of Bill Porter is engrossing, it wasn't until I looked up the movie on this web page I realised who was acting as Bill Porter, I was convinced he was acting as himself! I have to applaud Bill Porter for his achievements in life and how he was so independent. To be the Salesman of the Year, he had a custom base of regular customers who treated him as their friend and confident. Shelly's character was the friend we all wished we had, but Bill Porter was lucky enough to have her for his. Did the movie ever tell us what her major was? Maybe it did, but I was so engrossed with Porter's character, I didn't notice. A great lil' "feel good" movie, despite the prejudice shown in the movie from the characters that Bill Porter encountered in his every day life, from his 1st customers to his last pimply faced boss.

> There's an old theatre saying that goes, "If it's not on the page, it's not > on the stage." This script should be required reading in screenwriting > classes. As wonderful as William Macy's performance is, his work on the > screenplay is even better. It pushes all the right emotional buttons without > being melodramatic or manipulative, which is awfully difficult to do. >

This film is based on the true story of Bill Porter, a salesman extraordinaire. With a birth handicap of cerebral palsy which affects his mobility, speech and right hand, he embarks on a career of a door-to-door salesman.

His challenges are presented over a nearly 50 year period in his life and the supporting cast serve him well. Helen Mirren, Kyra Sedgwick and Kathy Baker amongst them. It is simple and sweet, an uncomplicated film in a time of violence and pornography, it shines like a beacon to Bill Porter's theme of patience and persistence.

How he influences the lives of those around him, his observation of those lives, feeling that he can never fully participate, is profoundly moving. Not to everyone's taste but a lovely film for those who have the time and can admire an actor at the peak of his craft.

8 out of 10. .