Michael Shulman is an extremely appealing actor whether on stage or screen. In “Sherman’s Way” he plays Sherman Black, a laid back, inhibited New Yorker who is the son of an overbearing, controlling mom (Donna Murphy). Sherman can have it all—good school, upper economic strata and a life on a planned success track. When he finally gets up the courage to shuck a boring intern job and head for California to pursue a girl and a summer job with her father, he finds himself jilted and stranded.

As circumstances would have it, Sherman meets Palmer “The Bomber” Van Dyke, a loose cannon played by excellent and colorful character actor James Le Gros. Palmer, a one-time Olympic skier who could never make it to the gold, is everything Sherman is not. But Palmer also has his vulnerable side.

As the two new odd-couple friends interact in a series of amusing adventures in which Palmer introduces Sherman to outrageous escapades and a freer lifestyle, a bond develops between them and each contributes to changing the other’s life and outlook. The film moves along at a breezy clip, gathering emotional as well as comic steam, and by the conclusion we have gotten to know these two fascinating characters well, and what’s more, like them a lot.