Imagine a town so small that the graduating class of its only high school consists of only five seniors. Welcome to Dancer, Texas Pop. 81, a fictitious but realistic West Texas town where the only thing to do is get out.

And that's just what the four guys in the senior class have in mind on the eve of their graduation. When they were nine years old, the four friends made a solemn vow. They decided that when they finished high school, they would leave Dancer bound for Los Angeles.

But when the time comes, not everyone is ready to follow through with his original plans. It seems that the lazy pace of life in Dancer might be more than enough to keep some of them from leaving.

Keller (Clueless's Breckin Meyer) has always dreamed of living in L.A., but his longtime girlfriend has no intention of leaving Texas. Squirrel (Ethan Embry, overacting a bit) has no qualms about ditching life in a run-down trailer, until his good-for-nothing dad shows up with a woman who promises to get them organized. Terrell Lee (Peter Facinelli) gets a clear message from his parents that his future lies in the family oil business, while John (Eddie Mills) detects that his soft-spoken father hopes he'll take over the ranch.

"That's the structure I used to look at life in a small town," first-time director Tim McCanlies said. "It's a West Texas Our Town, so to speak." McCanlies spoke with The Daily Texan when the film premièred at the SXSW film festival earlier this spring.

McCanlies attended the University of Texas back in the 70s, before moving out to Los Angeles to try breaking through in the film industry. After seeing several of his scripts brought to the screen in ways he hadn't envisioned, McCanlies vowed to direct his own film.

"I wanted to make an indie film, a movie without all that Hollywood crapola," McCanlies said. "I had just enough money to begin filming. A week into shooting, the head of TriStar read the script and bought it. Ironically, now it will be a major Hollywood movie after all."

Even with a more comfortable budget, McCanlies wanted to keep the film small. By focusing on the characters, McCanlies lets the story tell itself.

Like Stand By Me and the best buddy flicks, Dancer, Texas gives us an intimate peek at the curious forces that define friendship. These four guys are so different they would never be friends if they'd grown up in a town with more people, yet we sense the strength of the bonds that keep them together.

Genuine performances by talented young actors and an upbeat score by Steve Dorff make memorable characters and situations even more colorful, but it's the setting that truly defines the movie. From its sweeping views of gorgeous West Texas landscapes to fond glimpses of the deserted gas station on Highway 91, the film is indelibly tied to its location.

"We shot in Fort Davis, Texas," McCanlies said. "It's remarkably like the town I imagined in my head, only it's a little larger. Still, it's very beautiful and very scenic."

Dancer, Texas is a humble little story, yet it has much more to say that most movies that feature characters this age (in case you were beginning to believe that all high school seniors spend their time spying on girls in the shower room or slashing each other to bits). With only one weekend to decide which of them will leave Dancer on the next bus, these unexpectedly mature young men convey the mixture of dreams and doubts that comes with sorting out what they want to do with their futures.

While the audience (and the Dancer locals) place their wagers on who will go and who will stay, McCanlies treats us to a vivid portrait of life in a town too tiny to lure WalMart or McDonald's. He caricatures the residents and customs of his make-believe small town with the utmost care, wistfully reminding us what we might consider "backwards" often makes more sense than the hectic pace of big-city life.

Even if you think you can predict the ending -- though I'm betting you won't -- Dancer, Texas is such a lovable movie that you'll be sad to leave the town behind when the credits roll.