On the Line

A shy advertising employee meets his dream girl on the El train, but doesn’t remember to get her phone number, resulting in an all-out search for the mystery girl

• Director:Eric Bross
• Genre:Comedy / Family / Romance
• Runtime:82 minutes

Cast

Lance Bass : Kevin Gibbons
Joey Fatone : Rod
Emmanuelle Chriqui : Abbey
GQ : Eric
James Bulliard : Randy Francis

Bass plays Kevin, an advertisement employee, who meets a girl named Abbey (Chriqui) on Chicago’s El train and is too shy to ask for her phone number.

The film starts with Kevin is on stage performing at a high school grad party. He sees the girl he likes and his bandmates try to get him to sing to her and ask her out. He becomes nervous, ends up seeing himself naked in front of everyone and faints. Fast-forward 7 years and Kevin’s in advertising. He makes a pitch for reebok which gets shot down, but eventually used in the meeting by his “partner” Jackie who presents it as hers at the last minute. As he takes the train home from work he meets Abbey. They hit it off talking about their interests, which are all the same (the cubs, al green). As they go their separate ways they hesitate but eventually leave. They each go home and discuss the encounter with their friends.

After the meeting at work where his pitch is stolen he gets upset for not sticking up for himself. He decides to try to find Abbey by making posters and placing them all over town. He goes out with a few random women who answer the call, none of which are Abbey. The local newspaper finds out about his search and sets up an interview. The reporter Brady Frances (Dan Montgomery Jr.) is an old classmate who hates him. (In high school Brady asked a girl out to prom and she promptly asked Kevin who was standing nearby, then returned to Brady and said she was taken.)

The article comes out in the paper and Kevin gets hundreds of calls, which leads to his dateless roommates — aspiring musician Rod, played by Joey Fatone; Eric, played by GQ; and art nut Randy, played by James Bulliard — suggesting they date all the callers to help. Eric has the idea shot down when he originally pitches it to Kevin, but while Kevin is at work one day, Eric calls, and asks him to reconsider. It is poor timing, as Kevin is having a conversation with his boss, Higgins (Dave Foley). When he gives a “Yes” answer to a question from Higgins, Eric hears him on the other end of the line, and hangs up. Read more

Watch full On the Line online streaming for free