Men with Brooms (2002)

Four men take time from their personal problems to reunite as a curling team and compete in a bonspiel that will restore their honour.

Director:

Paul Gross

Writers:

Paul Gross (story), Graham Wagner (story editor)

Stars:

Paul Gross, Leslie Nielsen, James B. Douglas

1 win & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James B. Douglas	...	Donald Foley
Molly Parker	...	Amy Foley
Paul Gross	...	Chris Cutter
Barbara Gordon	...	Eva Foley
Michelle Nolden	...	Julie Foley
Connor Price	...	Brandon Foley
Stan Coles	...	Minister
James Allodi	...	Neil Bucyk
Darryl Casselman	...	Ronnie
Mike 'Nug' Nahrgang	...	Nug McTeague (as 'Nug')
Jed Rees	...	Eddie Strombeck
Jane Spidell	...	Lilly Strombeck
Polly Shannon	...	Joanne
Peter Outerbridge	...	James Lennox
Kari Matchett	...	Linda Bucyk

Storyline

Long Bay resident Donald Foley, a life long curler and more recent curling coach, has just passed away. He has requested that his cremated ashes be bored into a specific curling stone he has just had retrieved from the bottom of Long Bay. His will also has a non-binding codicil to reunite the last team he coached to curl in the Golden Broom Bonspiel in town, a Long Bay team which has never won and that team which was the closest ever to doing so. Donald wants that specific stone in which he is buried to be delivered as the final shot to sit on the button for the win for the Long Bay team. Beyond the four team members not having curled at all since their last bonspiel ten years ago, they each have issues in their lives which may make coming together as a team and winning, and curling in its entirety difficult or a non-priority. Lead Neil Bucyk's life is directed by his controlling wife Linda, a right she believes she has as his livelihood is in her family's business, a funeral home. ...

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Plot Keywords:

astronaut | felling a tree | snorkeling | curling stone | funeral | 

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Taglines:

There's More Than One Way To Sweep a Woman Off Her Feet.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, sexuality and some drug use

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English American Sign Language German

Release Date:

22 November 2002 (Turkey)

Also Known As:

Faceci z miotlami

Filming Locations:

Brampton Curling Club, Brampton, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$7,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

CAD 1,040,000 (Canada), 10 March 2002, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,765, 22 September 2002, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$4,239,767, 22 September 2002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Serendipity Point Films, Whizbang Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The University of Toronto Men's varsity curling team were used as stand ins for Paul Gross' team.

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Goofs

Paul Cutter's moral dilemma as a cheater is entirely contrary to the rules of curling. Canadian and world curling rules require players to call their own infractions. In the situations depicted in the film, "burning" a moving stone is an infraction by the sweepers, not the player delivering the stone. It's the responsibility of the front end, never up to Cutter, to call the burned stones.

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Quotes

Julie Foley: Look, this isn't about me and him or you and him. This is about me and you.
Amy Foley: I have no claim on him.

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Crazy Credits

At the end: No Beavers were harmed in the making of this film...Honest!

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Connections

Followed by Men with Brooms (2010)

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Soundtracks

Poets
Written and Performed by The Tragically Hip
Weiner Art, Arte Humane, Dirty Shorts, Bhaji Maker, Ching Music (SOCAN)
p. 1998 Universal Music
Courtesy of Universal Music Canada

User Reviews

This was an OK comedy, with realistic characters

OK, so this was not exactly high art. But let's be realistic, it is a movie with Paul Gross and Leslie Nielson in it. I was not expecting the English patient.... What was here was a good little comedy movie that poked fun at a lot of Canadian idiosyncrasies, had realistic characters and had a bit of fun with a known Canadian (and international) sport. It was nice that most of the characters had some sort of flaw, but still managed to sort things out and overcome. Better yet, it was nice to see Leslie Nielson actually act in a movie with a character who had depth instead of his normal two dimensional slapstick characters. Mostly, I enjoyed this movie because it was not a complete cast of perfect people, and it did have fun with a lot of Canadian stereotypes. It is always good when we can laugh at ourselves. Like I said, not high art but that was not what we were looking for.