Tao Of Steve

Review written by: Joshua Bozeman on April 4, 2003 @ 1:08 P.M. CT.

Note: Pardon the short summary points and all...It has been 3 months since I saw the movie on DVD

My Overall Rating: 8/10

The Tao of Steve is the story of Dex, who lives the tao of steve...the lifestyle he created which is all about getting women into the sack basically. Make women find you excellent. He uses this plan to, well...use women. He has used it for years. Thru college, into adulthood (which isn't much of an adulthood when it comes to Dex.) The tao is based upon excellence that is pouring out of a number of Steves. The Steve from Hawaii Five-O, Steve McQueen, and other famous Steves. All great men. All men who could get the girl when it came down to it.

Dex is a semi- bum. He lives in New Mexico, teaches young school children (sorta a daycare -like setting but the kids aren't toddlers), and he smokes pot. I had a problem with the fact that he smoked pot, and then went to work taking care of children. That was a bad message to send there. Dex is a likeable character sometimes, but then again- you see the womanizing side of him, and you just can't stand the guy. He's like that. He does do some good deeds along the way, after meeting a woman who he seems to be falling for. It's not about just sex anymore...it's no longer all about the tao of steve. This girl is different. It's a girl he met in college, and tho he doesn't remember it, they slept together. She is back in his life now, and he is spending more and more time with her. She doesn't want to have a relationship with him, knowing the type of guy he is. They eventually fall for each other, but that's still not good enough...the woman gets the idea that Dex is using her too. She's no more special than any of the other girls.

Finally, Dex decides that the tao of steve is all wrong. He gets the girl and drops the act.

This film is wondefully shot in the beautiful deserts of New Mexico (I think? I think they mentioned that in the commentary track.) The direction is clean...nothing fancy, nothing to make your head spin...just straight down the line directing. The story is the star here, not the director and his/her work. The acting is pretty good, and it has that low budget indie feel to it. It is pretty much an indie film, but it's not grainy cheap film and bad actors and bad set pieces. It's very professionally done, and the end product is very nice.

The story overall is really interesting. It's nice to see these odd people gather and react to each other. It's nice to see the guys in the big yard playing frisbee golf. There are some very funny scenes between the guys as they discuss the tao of steve, and how they act when the women aren't around.

The guy who plays Dex is the dad on the WB series, Grounded For Life (used to be on Fox.) I loved him in that show, and he's even better here. A happy-go-lucky guy without a care in the world it seems. Just coasting thru life making the best of everything. He plays this character so very well, and he's what ultimately makes this a great movie. The other cast members are far less memorable in my mind, but they round everything out nicely as it is.

There are some lulls in the action of the story, and the pacing might need to be cleaned up a little, but Tao of Steve IS a really great movie, and I definitely recommend it.