Everyone knows a Steve. He's the Don Juan of the neighborhood, who seduces countless women without trying, adding notches to his bedpost, but never falling in love. The Tao of Steve is the definitive Steve movie. Who is Steve? The embodiment of cool maleness. Take your pick from Steve McQueen, Steve Austin (The Bionic Man) or Steve McGarret (Hawaii Five-O). So, this Tao is for Steve wannabes, since Steves ARE. The opposite of a Steve is a Stu - the guys whose efforts are completely transparent to women.

The Tao of Steve is entered in the dramatic competition of this year's Sundance Film Festival. In Tao, the chief proponent of Steve-ism is a former philosophy student, Dex, a kindergarten teacher who has applied his studies in philosophy and religion to a successful, yet shallow, career of short-term seductions. The objective is to "get laid." This carefully constructed Tao meets its test when Dex falls for Syd, an energetic opera set designer, and things do not go in the usual horizontal direction.

As a teenager, screenwriter Duncan North developed The Tao of Steve with his brother. North turned his philosophy into a cogent screenplay with director Jenniphr Goodman and Greer Goodman (Jenniphr's sister), who plays Syd in the film. First-time feature director Jenniphr Goodman has assembled a winning cast, a smart script, and a crisp story. The writing team of the Goodmans and North has a great ear for dialogue, and the male-female interplay is particularly realistic.

Donal Logue is the perfect Dex, a character whose obesity provides fuel for much of the humor in the script. The casting alone shows the value of independent filmmaking. Obese actors in Hollywood are usually cast as buffoons. Here, overweight Dex is a convincing romantic lead, whose intellect is his primary attractiveness to women. The on-screen chemistry between Dex and Syd works, although Syd, a well-toned runner, is Dex's physical opposite. No consultant was brought in to help create realistic love scenes.

The film is set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a perfect location for a slacker-philosopher seduction king. Santa Fe's beautiful forest presents the opportunity to contrast the physical and philosophical fitness of Syd and Dex.