The production is done in a kind of Christopher Guest mockumentary homage. The goofs here are football fans. But not the expected die-hard NFL gang. No. These are a few misfits hell bent on supporting their “home team.”

The local high school Wildcats team is heading into season. A trio of their fans are spotlighted: “The Chuck” (Mark Darby Robinson) and Larry Dowd (Keith Minor) and their discharged and disgraced ex-coach Nathan Dansby (Christopher “Phifer” Blanchard), are swellin’ up with team pride like human ticks that spotted a fatted dear fresh from a body-heat rising run in the deep crevises of the Maine outback.

They are psyched.

However, post-season (and the plot twisting) the school has decided the team is an expense they can not cover. They do away the team.

This is where you’ll need to let go, as obviously football is the last thing any school allows to go. Hell, they’d start employing non-degree teachers at minimum wage before sports – never mind football – got cut.

But I digress…

The team is done away with. The fore mentioned fans create an alliance and plot to raise the funds needed to save the curriculum with a star-studded (al'a old local heroes) game.

Locals are asked to donate $5000 to play with the school’s past pigskin heroes. But the well-meaning fans don’t quite pull off the shindig the way they’d hope. And one in particular really gives his all.

This often-hilarious peek into the unnoticed world of the high school football fanatic works because of the “fans” are oblivious to their absurd obsession. 4th and Long has captured that and it is in no small part due to the actors playing the fans.

Each actor does a great job of making you feel for them. You’re still laughing at them and silently yelling for them to get a life, but you are drawn in. One character in particular, “The Chuck” played by Mark Darby Robinson may make you spit your super-sized concession soda upon the head of the viewer in front of you as he remembers the loss of his wife from his new living quarters.

And his co-nuts Keith Minor (who also helped write) and Christopher “Phifer” Blanchard deliver their over-the-top characters with a perfect subtly that keeps the comedy sublimely effective.

Laughs-a-plenty matched to reality-based wing nuts make this film a hit. Touché to Jack Faulkner the man making the film soundtrack, production designer Leo mark Hodson and costumer Neela Rajendra for making these pathetic souls pop off the page and into the yellow pages.

And producer/director/editor and co-writer Tim Vandenberg almost made it through without those inevitable film-maker-with-seven-hat vacuum pratfalls. He’s left a few tedious edits and sophomoric comedy accents (that seem out of place in this smart satire). But by the time 4th and Long gets distribution and hits IFC those will be ironed out.

And even with the tiny hang nails these guys have made 4th and Long one helluva hilarious film that should be a cult classic if it’s given the chance.

Snack recommendation: Tuna sashimi.