Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Brian J. Smith | ... | Ben Dankert | |
Kaniehtiio Horn | ... | Avery Dankert (as Tiio Horn) | |
Raoul Max Trujillo | ... | Wayne (as Raoul Trujillo) | |
Aaron Ashmore | ... | Sean | |
John Kapelos | ... | Bissey | |
Aidan Devine | ... | Ray | |
Jack Fulton | ... | Zach Dankert | |
Shaun Benson | ... | Elvis | |
![]() |
Lisa Codrington | ... | Connie |
Wole Daramola | ... | Kaleb | |
Thom Allison | ... | Teeny | |
Andrew Moodie | ... | Driver | |
Emily Piggford | ... | Cyclist | |
Paula Rivera | ... | Mikayla | |
Sonya Côté | ... | Rhonda Bissey (as Sonya Cote) |
Ben and Avery Dankert used what little money they had - Ben's inheritance - to move to Toronto to get away from a toxic family environment. Working as a tow truck driver, specifically in bylaw (i.e. towing illegally parked cars) for Jackrabbit Towing Services, and a cook in a diner respectively, they are unable to make ends meets let alone provide the little extras for their adolescent son Zach, who is continually taunted by classmates as white trash. These jobs are meant as a means to an end, Ben who wants to open his own garage, and Avery who wants to open her own restaurant. While she knows how to cook, Avery is unable to get any better job without culinary training, schooling which they can't afford. Things get even more difficult when Ben's unscrupulous boss, Bissey, institutes a new policy on the brink of Jackrabbit imminently being awarded the lucrative police contract: all drivers must lease the trucks from him, first and last month's payment due immediately. Feeling like the ... Written by Huggo
Leave it to Canada to make a movie about tow truck drivers. But not so fast. In a country that spends have of the year driving through snow and ice, our tow truck drivers are the unsung heroes of the road. Moreover, this is a surprisingly sharp and compelling movie with genuine, thoughtful and gripping performances all around. "Chasers" are tow truck drivers who race to an accident scene to secure cars and get kickbacks to the autoshops they send them to. (If that seems unCanadian to you, it is. Actually, the tow truck industry is so regulated this practice is almost non-existent.) None the less, we take our drama where we can get it and it's rare to see a Canadian film that is unself-consciously Canadian. Although the lead actor (Brian Smith) is actually from Texas. It's also refreshing to see Toronto as the setting for this movie. Instead of trying so hard to be New York, the quaint, clean, decidingly less grim city backdrop somehow makes the action more gripping, stark and real. Admittedly, part of its charm is that '22 Chaser' doesn't try to be more then it is. It is, after all, a television movie. The result is a satisfying but tropey ending.