Seeking to impress Stella, the woman of his dreams whose play has been accepted for production in London, Joey steals the poetry of his deaf friend Marty and passes off the work as his own.

[5] Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle commended the film, saying Spencer creates a "moving and literate fable that explores the dangerous waters of artistic self-delusion, and the consequences of literary theft.

[7] Dave Kehr of the Chicago Tribune commented that while he enjoyed Glover's performance, the film "drifts through a number of ill-defined, unnecessary sequences-including scenes involving Nina Siemaszko as a pretty girl with a crush on Joey, and John C. McGinley as the true poet's drug-dealing brother-before it arrives at its surprisingly bleak conclusion.

"[8] He concluded the film does not "bring a strong point of view to the material, so it's often hard to tell whether we're meant to find Joey sweet and appealing or creepy and clinically disturbed.

"[8] Lloyd Sachs of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote a mostly negative review, stating that while he felt the film had some highlights, its subplot was "pretentious" and "overreaching".