I'm a regular viewer of bad Canadian movies, but this one takes the cake.
First, some of the usual suspects are involved: this time Telefilm Canada (who usually have slightly better standards than this) and some BC film credits or some such thing. I still believe that if a movie is worth making, it will find funding without sucking on the government teat. (And I'm a liberal).
Second, once again the location is vague. Car license plates show no jurisdiction, so you have to guess. Where is Reno? Is it the small hamlet of 13 people in Alberta? Probably not. More than likely they mean the one everyone else means, in Nevada. But nobody has a passport. How are they getting there? I think if a film is going to take Canadian taxpayer money, or have their taxes reduced (same thing) then the film should be clearly set in Canada.
So why is a Canadian boy wanting to escape to Reno, Nevada? Why not Vancouver? Or Edmonton? Or Winnipeg? And who is that old prospector? Are we supposed to be in California?
OK, so the setting is confused. What about the story? I never was able to follow it. People come and go. It's like an ensemble film without the ensemble. But even then, I was able to guess the secret twist ending, or at least the first half of the twist.
I was going to give this film a 6 up to that point, for being a mostly boring closet-Canadian movie as usual, but at least having a funny non-conformist ending, maybe saying something about social mores, which is a lofty goal for such a weak movie.
But, the female characters are treated with such disdain in this story, that the only recourse its creators give is for the young mother to end her pregnancy by killing herself. It's a revoltingly judgemental ending, like something out of the 50s. You almost expect a narrator to begin warning us on the dangers of premarital sex, "because you never know who that other person might be" (dramatic music to follow).
There were several better options: * get an abortion * have the child anyway * shoot the father * shoot HIS father
A last hint to casting: if the actors are going to be showing skin, it helps if they are at least moderately good-looking.
Well, anyway, that's another 100 minutes of my life I'm not getting back. Thanks, folks.
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