Film festivals are a haven of low-budget independent films making world premieres. For Christian Sesma’s debut film, Shoot the Hero, the 21st Palm Springs International Film Festival was a natural place to pop the action movie’s screening cherry.

Alas, with two sold-out screenings over the next two weeks, perhaps Sesma is onto something with his tale of Nate, Kate, the Smith Brothers, Crazy Joe, Franklin, Grant, and a band of misfits raising havoc in what appears to be the middle of nowhere.

When Nate (Jason Mewes) barged into a jewelry store just before its closing for the night, he hoped to walk out a changed man.

Turning into a bad-ass rebel who would become the primary target of a ruthless gangster was not quite what Nate had in mind.

In fact, the last thing Nate ever expected in his life was for a low-down dirty villain of a gangster to instruct a man to point a gun at him and ask him to pull the trigger after commanding the weapons-wielding gangster to “shoot the hero.”

But when his girlfriend, Kate (Samantha Lockwood), recommends the two spend some time apart from each other moments after he forced a jeweler to keep his store open in order for her to select an engagement ring, the only thing Nate could think of to save the relationship is to stand up to a group of second-rate robbers.

Of course, those robbers were several jewel thieves who happened to break into the jewelry store just as Nate and Kate were debating whether or not they should go through with their proposed engagement.

Yet, when Grant (Nicholas Turturro) executes his mutiny from Franklin (Paul Sloan) and their “mob” boss Crazy Joe (Danny Trejo), Nate finds the opening he needs to play hero in preventing the thieves from getting their jewels and finding a fiancé in the process.

In an instant, Nate transforms from timid boy who lacked personal confidence to a brave hero who knew how to live dangerously on the edge of the world.

That sets up Crazy Joe to hire “The Cleaner” to come to town and help him “shoot the hero,” with the hero being Nate after he was caught on surveillance cameras standing up to Crazy Joe’s jewel thieves.

Meanwhile, two brothers – Fat Smith (Nic Nac) and Thin Smith (Matt Hatton) – are stranded in the middle of nowhere in sub-cold temperatures after their car breaks down during the wee hours of the night.

They are trying to get to a job they were both hired for, but they get into it about how best to proceed in light of their stranded circumstances.

As both brothers get into a heated argument, the bumbling Fat Smith stumbles onto the unofficial headquarters of an underground militia group who becomes hell-bent on killing their new-found “friend” in order to keep their operation a secret.

As Thin Smith comes to his brother’s rescue, the duo plots their escape and resort to hitchhiking to get away from their culprits.

Fatefully picked up by the most unlikely of people, the stories of the Smith Brothers, Nate and Kate, and Crazy Joe converge in an illegal underground casino where the story climaxes in a heated shootout that includes a surprise visit by the mutinied jewel thieves.

As the stand-off ensues, everyone’s stories converge and everyone’s place is realized.

With over-the-top action sequences and adult-like crude humor of some savory and not-so-savory folks alike, Shoot the Hero is a fun, wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am, edge-of-your-seat ride that will easily become an instant cult-classic with a cerebral bent.

Mewes is interesting as Nate, portraying a man unsure of himself who is forced to become something bigger than he realizes he can be.

Meanwhile, Lockwood is respectable in playing an attractively uptight girlfriend who suddenly gets turned on when the fear factor raises several notches.

In playing the Smith Brothers, Nic Nac and Hatton have solid chemistry, feeding off each other and developing quite the camaraderie as bickering siblings.

The ruthless gangster is Trejo, who not only looks the part of Crazy Joe but also portrays the villain in the most evil of ways – something only Trejo can do.

Turturro and Sloan are quite goofy in their roles, striking more laughter than fear with audiences.

Overall, each of the main characters are rather interesting, with each of their stories told at a grippingly fast pace, reminding moviegoers of a similar gangster-crime saga of a cult classic in El Mariachi.

Written and directed by Sesma, Shoot the Hero will be making its world premiere in his home town of Palm Springs on January 8th, as it was invited to screen at the prestigious 21st Palm Springs International Film Fest.