JD Walters at 2010-02-08 15:02:46:

There are two immediately implausible things about this storyline: 1) that a slacker would amass a large amount of I.O.U.s (after all, by definition he doesn't do much of significance for anyone, including himself) and 2) that childhood I.O.U.s, which are usually incurred for small favors like help with homework, setting someone up on a date (again, things that slackers wouldn't normally do) would be significant enough to be convertible into cash, and the large amounts of cash which would be necessary to save the family home. And why should these 'childhood debtors' feel at all indebted to this person after such a long time?

Here's what I would do to make it more plausible: instead of reaching out to near-strangers to collect childhood I.O.U.s, I would have the protagonist reach out to estranged family members, trying to convince them to help him/her save the house. There would be ample scope for old wounds to be reopened, reconciliation and/or further estrangement, and lots of other good human drama (and perhaps comedy as well).

Oh, a movie that has a similar concept is the recent Thai martial arts movie Chocolate: the heroine is an autistic girl who has the ability to learn complex martial arts simply by watching Tony Jaa Thai boxing movies. When her mother, who used to be a gangster, falls ill with cancer, the heroine goes to her mother's debtors to collect on her loans. In this situation the plot is (slightly) more plausible, because a gangster with some influence would be expected to incur substantial monetary loans to various shady people.

The Unknown Lyricist at 2010-02-08 20:20:51:

It's an intriguing premise.

To answer JD's criticism's about the guy (I assume it's a guy) being a slacker (and therefore not believable), maybe there was something that made him a slacker...

*Parents' divorce

*Death or loss of someone who was close

*Betrayal by a best friend/girlfriend

*A series of bad luck

"High Fidelity" employed a similar device where Rob after breaking up with his current girlfriend goes back and examines his Top 5 Break-ups of all time, from middle school through college.

It might be a more believable (and give the writer more flexibility) if the slacker in his mid-to-late 20s. Then he can call him on people from grade school, high school and college or work.

Archie at 2010-02-08 21:40:32:

My reaction to the logline is that it's front loaded with the least interesting part of the concept, the central character doesn't really drive the log ("sets out") and both "childhood IOUs" and "adult debtors" are sentence stoppers. I'm also left not having a clue as to the age of the central character.

I think I'd be more interested in the slacker if he were doing anything other than trying to save the old homestead from a sub-prime loan. It made me think of the Sandler movie about golf and 2008-09 on CNN.

The "save the house" story is also confusing as to tone. I'm left wondering if this is going to be some life-affirming dramedy or some post-Apatow comedy.

Based on "slacker" I'm guessing Apatow but the character is simultaneously presented as altruistic and a delusional jackass invading other people's lives. If you want a slacker comedy you have to make his motivations just as ridiculous and selfish as his actions.