Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Scott Speedman | ... | Dexter | |
Wes Bentley | ... | Royce | |
Taryn Manning | ... | Matilda | |
Matt Frewer | ... | Jason Taylor | |
Greg Bryk | ... | Abel | |
Maggie Castle | ... | Treena | |
Raoul Bhaneja | ... | Omar | |
Joe Dinicol | ... | Jeremy | |
Jordan Prentice | ... | Martin | |
Dax Ravina | ... | Seamus | |
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Elizabeth Lennie | ... | Irene Taylor |
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James McQuade | ... | Garry |
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Shayne Wyler | ... | Todd |
Joe Silvaggio | ... | Sheldon (as Joey Beck) | |
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Allan Redford | ... | Theo |
In Weedsville, Ontario, friends Royce (an ideas guy) and Dexter (the quiet, introspective one of the two) are slacker druggies. In Dexter owing their drug dealer Omar $1,700, Royce, with the help of his friend Mattie (who many people, including Omar, "mistakenly" believe is a hooker), has made a deal with Omar to sell some of his drugs for him in the profit amount of what Dexter owes as payment. Mattie, who is also a druggie, came up with the idea having a secondary plan in mind to pay back Omar. She is aware that wealthy Jason Taylor, who is currently in the hospital with his wife Irene standing 24-hour vigil there leaving their house empty, does not believe in banks and keeps his money in a safe in the house. As Mattie knows the safe combination, the three of them can steal the money and thus keep Omar's drugs for their own consumption. As the week progresses with the three awaiting the right time to make the heist, Mattie overdoses on the drugs and dies. As Royce believes going to ... Written by Huggo
WARNING: This movie is unapologetically Canadian... which, in this case, is a good thing. Especially when this film could have been set in any city, town or village in the world.
I expected a low-budget, independent attempt at art. And what starts as out tragic and dark, grows into a fun, "what can happen now" sort of adventure that is surprisingly amusing. Yes, it's goofy at times. Yes, it borders on ridiculous, too. But dammit, it's fun. It carefully dances on the fine line of gross tragedy and outright slapstick, but doesn't quite cross the line either way.
The production value is fairly high, even if the budget wasn't. (The gritty darkness really suits the adventures of two junkies, anyway.) Scott Speedman and Wes Bentley build a real chemistry that grows on you and it's really good to see Bentley in a role that is FINALLY likable. Taryn Manning also does a good job, although I fear she's going to get pigeon-holed into similar roles. She deserves better. The rest of the cast does a solid job with no obvious weak link.
Finally, people are going to draw a lot of similarities to other movies. I would like to think of this as a strange cross between "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas" and "Dude, Where's My Car?", with it leaning favourably toward the Dude side. It has a couple of introspective, deep moments, but balances it out with lighter, playful moments the rest of the time.
Really, if you ever "got the joke" of "Dude, Where's My Car?" or even found some sick humour out of the head trip of "Fear And Loathing..." check out "Weirdsville". You may be pleasantly surprised. 8 out of 10.