Endearing ‘Omaha’ Shines Like a Gem in the Rough

Dan Mirvish’s “Omaha (The Movie)” is a jaunty, good-humored little movie about a young Omahan (Hughston Walkinshaw) who holds a degree in engineering but takes off for Nepal on a spiritual odyssey. A year later he returns, finding nothing about his glued-to-the-TV family or his hometown changed.

But Walkinshaw’s Simon has returned with a handful of Buddhist prayer stones he hopes will help him on his continuing quest for “perfect peace.” His zany girlfriend Gina (Jill Anderson), a perennial student, didn’t take Gemology 1 and 2 at the University of Omaha for nothing: She knows an uncut emerald when she sees one. When the couple visit a jewelry store for confirmation, how could they know that hiding in the back room are a couple of Colombian jewel thieves (Frankie Bee and Christopher M. Dukes, speaking amusingly awful Spanish with Midwestern accents)? Gina’s taekwondo courses are also about to pay off.

“Omaha” is one of those low-low-budget ventures longer on determination than inspiration, but it does manage to be sweet-natured and sometimes funny. Walkinshaw and especially Anderson are fresh and engaging. Having affectionately satirized Omaha and Nebraska in general as Dullsville, Mirvish has Simon, after a suitable amount of adventure with the bad guys, conclude Candide-like that his hometown might just be the place to find perfect peace--and true love--after all. But you don’t see the enterprising Mirvish, for whom “Omaha” served as his USC master’s thesis, following his hero’s example.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: The film is suitable for all ages.

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‘Omaha (The Movie)’

Hughston Walkinshaw: Simon

Jill Anderson: Gina

Frankie Bee: Jorge

Christopher M. Dukes: Gustavo

A Bugeater Films presentation. Writer-director Dan Mirvish. Producers Dana Altman & Mirvish. Cinematographer Oslo Anderson. Editors Larry Maddox & Alexandra Komisaruk. Costumes Nancy Ross. Music M.J. Greenberg & Andrew McPherson. Production designers A. Craig Florian & Kristin A. Landis. Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.

* Exclusively for one week at the Grande 4-Plex in the Sheraton Grande Hotel, 345 S. Figueroa St., downtown, (213) 617-0268, and simultaneously at the Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, for an open run Fridays and Saturdays at midnight. (213) 848-3500.