New Waterford Girl (1999)

A gifted teenager dreaming of life beyond her small town becomes inspired when a 15-year-old girl from New York moves in next door.

Director:

Allan Moyle

Writer:

Tricia Fish (screenplay)

Stars:

Liane Balaban, Tara Spencer-Nairn, Mary Walsh

4 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Liane Balaban	...	Mooney Pottie
Tara Spencer-Nairn	...	Lou Benzoa
Mary Walsh	...	Cookie Pottie
Nicholas Campbell	...	Frances Pottie
Cathy Moriarty	...	Midge Benzoa
Andrew McCarthy	...	Cecil Sweeney
Darren Keay	...	Lexter Pottie (as Darren Kaey)
Kevin Curran	...	Joey
Krista MacDonald	...	Betty-Anne Pottie
Cassie MacDonald	...	Darlene Pottie
Adrien Dixon	...	Felix Pottie
Patrick Joyce	...	Darcy Benzoa
Lorne Pardy	...	Father Madden
Mark McKinney	...	Doctor Hogan
Susan Quinn	...	Sandra (as Susan Laney Dalton)

Storyline

Sometime in the 1970s, 15-year-old loner Agnes Marie "Mooney" Pottie dreams of escaping existence in New Waterford, a coastal Nova Scotia town on Cape Breton Island. She quietly scorns most of the people around her, including her large family, who don't share her sensibilities; her fiercely-Catholic family think she's weird. She thinks she's realized her dream when, with the help of her teacher Cecil Sweeney (who came to New Waterford to find himself and is still looking) she wins a scholarship to a New York art school. When her parents don't let her go, she devises a plan to escape New Waterford. Meanwhile, a bit of NYC comes to New Waterford when Lou Benzoa and her dance-instructor mother temporarily move in next door to the Potties to escape the Bronx until "the stink dies down." Lou becomes friends with Mooney and quickly gains a reputation as the female Equalizer, whose powers only work on the guilty.

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Plot Keywords:

religious parent | vomiting | teen movie | new york | catholic | 

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Taglines:

Get Pregnant Now. Lose Virginity Later.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

When writer Tricia Fish moved to New Waterford at age 13 with her family, her six-year-old brother ran into their kitchen one day all bloody, and happily said, "I made a friend!" She incorporated this into the movie, in an identical scene with the character of Darcy, Lou's little brother.

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Goofs

When Moonie goes to Sweeney's trailer, as she is walking through the field there is for a second the shadow of the camera operator on the ground on the right side of the frame.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Moonie Pottie: I wasn't really born here, you know. When I was a tiny infant, my real mother, a famous opera singer, dropped me from a silver jet as she passed over what she saw as a beautiful tropical coastline. God's country.

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Connections

Featured in Weird Sex and Snowshoes: A Trek Through the Canadian Cinematic Psyche (2004)

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Soundtracks

(Isn't Love Unkind) In My Life
Performed by A Foot In Cold Water
Written by Paul Naumann and Danny Taylor
Published by Freewheeled Music/MCA Music Canada
Administered for the World by Freewheeled Music
Courtesy of Unidisc Music Inc.

User Reviews

May be quirky, but welcome to Hicksville, Canada

I missed the first 30 minutes of this film when it was shown on Showcase Extra this afternoon. I ended up renting it at Blockbuster five hours later.

Yeah, so the characters might seem "over the top," but guess what? It's Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Canada's Hicksville where there really is nothing to do.

I loved this movie. There was something about it by just throwing the characters in from the side -- and Sweeney? He was just there and the audience is just put right in the middle of Mooney's chaotic life, wondering if she's ever going to get the heck out of there and fulfill her ambitions and dreams.

Okay, so it's no Spielberg. There's no Kiera Knightly or Brad Pitt in it. It's a bunch of no-name actors and a no-name director. But guess what? That's where its charm comes from. It's special and quirky and you sympathize with Mooney and Lou and everyone else. A lot is explained if you listen to what is being said, and the quips are pretty cute -- not great like "Snatch" or "Lock, Stock..." great, but cute. Memorable.

I'd suggest people see this. This is a great piece of Canadian film that I wish more knew about. It's a real hidden gem. And if you don't like it, you'll at least appreciate the life you live.

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 January 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

New Waterford Girl

Filming Locations:

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada

Box Office

Gross USA:

$774,469

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$774,469

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sienna Films, imX Communications

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Color:

Color