Live Free or Die (DVD) Aaron Stanford, Paul Schneider NEW

Former SEINFELD writers Gregg Kavet and Andy Robin make their directorial debut with this offbeat comedy about a wannabe criminal toughing it out on the rough-and-tumble streets of New Hampshire. John "Rugged" Rudgate (Aaron Stanford) is on a mission to become a legend for committing unspeakably bad acts, but the reality is somewhat less dramatic. It turns out the hot items he's fencing were legitimately acquired, and he didn't kill the guy he says he killed. Nonetheless, he forges ahead, and when he reunites with childhood friend Lagrand (Paul Schneider), who has taken over his family's storage business along with his sister (Zooey Deschanel), Rugged has his new right-hand man. Unfortunately, Lagrand is as hapless a character as the world has ever seen, which only adds to the hilarity. Along the way, Rugged and Lagrand must contend with two small-town cops (Michael Rapaport and Kevin Dunn), a goofy hardware store proprietor (Judah Friedlander), and a loose-cannon safe cracker (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). In a film that features stellar performances across the board, it is Paul Schneider who steals the show. Sporting one of the worst hairdos in cinema history, Schneider's Lagrand is a cartoon character come to life if there ever was one, yet he still infuses Lagrand with a sympathetic humanity that makes the performance a downright miraculous achievement that must be seen to be believed.LIVE FREE OR DIE World Premiered at the 2006 South by Southwest Film Festival, where it won the Festival's Narrative Jury Prize.