I'm catching Prego, a short film from Usher Morgan, at the tail end of its run yet right in time for its streaming availability. The film stars Katie Vincent as Emily, a young woman who has just found out she's pregnant and is confronting the father-to-be, played with a goofy charm by Taso Mikroulis. While the story itself is a familiar one, Vincent and Mikroulis do a nice job of bringing it all to life and wringing all the laughs out of the script by Morgan with additional material contributed by Seinfeld veteran Andy Cowan.

Prego had a nine-month festival run where it picked up several prizes including Best Comedy Short at the 2015 Manhattan Film Festival, Best Comedy Short Award at the 2015 Chain NYC Film Festival, 2 awards from the 2015 Indie Fest Film Festival, and the Best Comedy award at the 2015 Trinity International Film Festival.

The film benefits from a terrfic and awkward chemistry between Vincent, whose performance reminded me somewhat of a Mila Kunis-styled performance, and Mikroulis, whose bumbling turn as Mark could have easily turned all of this into a stoner comedy.

Louis Obioha's lensing is crystal clear and patient with the numerous facial expressions being exchanged between Vincent and Mikroulis, while Morgan edits the film with enough patience to allow the laughs to linger.

While the festival run for Prego is over, you can see the film in its entirety above this review, Morgan is already hard at work on his next short film. After such a promising effort here, it's a film I'll look forward to seeing.

Written by Richard Propes
The Independent Critic