A perfect film for romantics, for which Sleepless In Seattle left wide awake and teary-eyed, The Raffle allows itself to unfold as a comic character ensemble with tantilzing peeks of gratuitous, though tasteful nudity. At the center is a well-turned performance by Bobby Dawson, a hopeless dreamer on the run from IRS repo men (his only posession, a bag of golf clubs, is constantly within arm's length). A Larry Drake look-alike, Dawson is capable of some amusing comic turns, proving to be the perfect foil for Nicholas Lea, (his best friend and recently unemployed marketing whiz) whose performance relies mainly on a charming smirk and good looks.

One day Dawson's overhead lightbulb goes off with an idea to sell raffle tickets for a date with the most beautiful woman in the world — and at ten bucks a pop, that ads ups to a nice payday. Legalities of such a promotion notwithstanding, the duo (or rather trio — Jennifer Clement, Lea's girl, is in on it too) advertise the scheme, and wait for the bucks to roll in. With a cool million waiting for the chosen babe, (culled form ticket sales) this is the natural spot for a globe-spanning montage of boobs, butts, lithesome legs and fabulous faces to come flooding into their office.

Being the power-mad, entrepeneur-squashing cretins that they are, the IRS toadies set out to put the big kibosh on our boy's grand plan. Wither the romance and tears hinted at? That's covered in the sub-plot between Lea and Clement, who dumps him for being a self-centered, chauvinistic money grubber — like that's a bad thing, (fust kidding ladies.) Considering how paint-by-numbers the sub-plot appears, their screen chemistry isn't nearly as cloying as it could have been. In fact, The Raffle is good enough to garner a theatrical release, so look for it in the theatres first.