I saw this play a couple weeks ago, so forgive me if my memory of it is a bit rusty. I liked the characters, Arthur was a sad, ex-hippy who's life was wrapped up in his doughnut shop, even despite neglecting it greatly. Even the one thing he cares about, he treats like dirt, which speaks greatly of his self-respect. He's got a daughter he hasn't seen in a long time, and just lives from day to day dealing with his problems by smoking pot and trying to put them all out of his head by any means necessary.
Franco is a good foil character for Arthur. While Arthur is sad and meek, Franco is loud and bold. Franco applies his personality onto everyone he meets. He acts before he thinks, he makes money by any means necessary, he has dreams of writing the next great American novel. Franco has dreams far bigger than he is, and seeing him and Arthur play off each other is highly amusing, from when he's trying to give Arthur a makeover to when he's giving Arthur business ideas, the two work together extremely well, and even the smallest of interactions between the two are a lot of fun to watch.
The characters were all there, they all felt real, down to the two cops, one woman with a crush on Arthur and a man with a family and a sci-fi obsession. They were completely there. However, story-wise, the play became very predictable, particularly in the second half.
The moment we learned more about Franco, I knew he was going to owe someone money, or was going to fall in with a tough crowd, or was going to get beaten up by an ex-tough crowd he used to hang around with. All three happened in this play. The characters succeeded in changing through each other, and the focus of the story stayed on just that, which was a good thing. The story itself, was cliched and tired. We've seen this, the curmudgeon and the young, wide-eyed kid, coming together. However, because these characters were done so well, it worked. I just wish the story had that kind of variety and "funness" that the characters did.
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