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Max (Sean Bones) is a slacker from Brooklyn who’s been squandering most of his time between skateboarding and playing soccer. The only positive things in the struggling musician’s life are his beautiful girlfriend, Willow (Norah Jones), and the trip they plan to take together with the pair of tickets he won for a Caribbean cruise to Jamaica.

The naïve narcissist gets an unanticipated surprise when she breaks up with him just a couple of days before they’re supposed to set sail. So, he retreats to a local watering hole to soak his woes in booze while crying on the shoulders of his best buddies. Then, when none of them takes him up on the offer to replace Willow, Max still decides to take the vacation alone anyway.

That high seas saga is the focus of Wah Do Dem, an engaging, low-budget indie flick co-written and co-directed by Ben Chace and Sam Fleischner. The solo journey starts out subdued in tone, as the lonely protagonist desperately perambulates the ship’s decks searching to make an acquaintance, if not a love connection. However, that proves impossible since virtually all his fellow passengers are either already coupled or elderly retirees. In fact, the only excitement he encounters on board the boat is when a gay guy makes an awkward pass at him.

Everything changes they disembark in Kingston where Max is immediately mugged on the street. Matters deteriorate from bad to worse when he ventures into the countryside by motorbike to try to retrieve his knapsack, wallet and passport. First, the boat leaves without him, then he’s held up at knife point without anything to offer the second robber.

Can a broke, white city boy from New York survive by his wits in the slums of Jamaica? That is question raised by this cross-culture dramedy which does a decent job of offsetting the sheer panic of Max’s harrowing ordeal with some authentic flava’ of the Caribbean that tourists normally never get to see.

Wah do dem? “Dem a loot, dem a shoot, dem a wail!” in shanty towns as the late Desmond Dekker might say, since the harder they c, they harder they apparently still fall.

Johnny Ryan (Scott Caan) is a very successful romance novelist living in Los Angeles who, ironically, has never actually experienced love himself. Instead, the handsome hunk has contented himself with a series of shallow one-night stands which have never evolved into a substantial relationship.

Everything changes the night of the launch party for his latest best seller, when he has his head turned by Mercy (Wendy Glenn), a gorgeous brunette with a clipped British accent. For as he exchanges pleasantries over wine and cocktails with the mysterious stranger, Johnny finds himself feeling a warm and fuzzy sensation he’s never known before. That would be a crush.

But what Johnny doesn’t know is that Mercy’s a leading critic from New York City who has already published a scathing review of his new book. However, the truth coming out does nothing to discourage him one iota from pursuing the sudden object of his affection. Even in the face of her caustic comments like, “You write about love, but don’t know how to spell it,” he remains resolved to win her heart before she heads back to the East Coast.

Nonetheless, Mercy is not one to be so easily convinced that a Neanderthal she considers “a walking contradiction” might have changed his stripes. And when she ignores Johnny’s begging to stay in L.A., he gets so desperate that he threatens to kill her if she follows through with her travel plans, but to no avail.

With Mercy gone, he initially attempts to revert to his womanizing ways only to encounter erectile dysfunction issues for the first time in his life. So, he consults with his English professor father (James Caan), who is no help, since the best advice he can muster up is trite poster speak such as “Love is a myth.” Obviously, Johnny just have to have that girl who’s gone back to the Big Apple.

Thus unfolds Mercy, an engaging character-driven drama directed by Patrick Hoelck but written and produced by Scott Caan. Caan must be credited for fashioning a vehicle which fits him to a T, and for surrounding himself with a decent cast to execute his vision, especially Wendy Glenn in the title role.

A sentimental sitdram which seeks to answer whether a long-distance liaison between an artist and his worst critic has a fighting chance of blossoming into love? A question satisfactorily answered by this bittersweet romantic romp about growing up, albeit belatedly.