Single parenting is one of the most difficult and demanding challenges that any human being can face. It is a roller coaster ride of delight and anxiety, achievement and frustration, vulnerability and control, pride and guilt. All of these elements are vividly conveyed in this offbeat drama directed by Stephen Kinsella and co-written with Paul Solberg.
Rita Ronaldi (Callie Thorne) is a working-class New York mom who, having left her alcoholic and abusive husband, is desperately trying to make ends meet as her sickly son Matt (Rufus Read) enters adolescence. She reads an ad in a paper, "Shift Your Life into Overdrive," and discovers it's promoting jobs for women as meter maids. Knowing she has developed a thick skin, Rita aggressively goes for the job and gets it.
Rita deals with her loneliness in a tentative relationship with one of her son's teachers. Meanwhile Matt, who is also quite lonely, falls under the influence of Bret (Noah Fleiss), a teenage punk who has failed sixth grade twice and needs a little help on his schoolwork. This underachiever is busy outside the classroom selling drugs, drinking, and having sex with his girlfriend.
Double Parked does a fine job presenting the awkward dance between Rita and her son. Two steps apart, one step back together. He needs her, she's not there. She reaches out to help, he refuses. The mother-son dance is complicated when Rita learns the true identity of Bret. Then suddenly, this feisty woman has more obligations. But she's a survivor who's ready, willing, and able to handle anything and everything that life throws her way. Callie Thorne, best known for her regular role on TV's "Homicide," is convincing as Rita.