Genial normal

This movie is brilliant.

If you like thoughtfully paced humor in the vein of Bill Forsythe (Comfort and Joy) this movie is for you. Great cast, great screen play...and deft humor.

It is the story of Renzo Parachi (Michael Riley), who leads a dull and quite life...and likes it that way. He works at the local brewery's bottling plant and plays goalie for the company hockey team. He also drives a cab at night, where he picks up a fare who will change his life - Robbie Coltrane as Alonzo Turner.

Within minutes Alonzo has insinuated himself into Renzo's life...and suddenly this quiet, unassuming man discovers that everyone wants something from him. His boss at the factory will do anything to transform the hockey team into winners...the girl at the ice rink will do anything for his chastity...and Lonzo will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

A move not to be missed. Unfortunately, and criminally, it is not available on DVD in the U.S. Yet Ishtar is. Go figure.

Yves Simoneau uses the stereotypes of Canada, the beer factory, the hockey rink, the snow-covered wilderness, as his setting to examine its relationship with its bombastic neighbor to the south. But instead of a heavy geopolitical study it's actually a hoot. He throws in opera and cross-dressing for fun, and Robbie Coltrane gives a fabulous performance that almost steals the show. Yet the entire cast hits their notes well, with the smaller parts especially shining. Beautifully shot, it's a gem of a film.

I really don't know what to say about this film that could help someone understand it. I think this film stands for what is good and fun about Canadian cinema, like 'Paint Cans' stands for what is bad and awful about Canadian cinema. Not that I didn't like 'Paint Cans'. I haven't seen this film for quit some time either. So if you come across it somewhere, pick it up, I have a feeling that it is a rare find. Those more contemporary film buffs out there may be impressed to find Mr. Coltrane playing an American visitor (most recently starring in the Hughes Bros. 'From Hell' and 'Harry Potter', who is actually a Brit with a very stellar international career). This film is just a plain good time. And for anyone really in touch with Canadian film culture, this thing has its finger on the pulse of quirky. FORE!

If you like slow, stylish, cynically heart-warming humor...this movie is for you. This isn't sleepless in seattle or when harry met sally. This is a brilliantly conceived, written, directed and acted masterpiece that exalts the multifaceted idiosyncrasies of the great white north, combining it with a deft touch of the quieter side of British humor.

It combines my love of humor, hockey and music in a tale of romance and transformation that is smart, rather than sickly sweet.

Kenneth Walsh is great as the no-holds-barred coach that will fake cancer to motivate his team. Michael Riley gives a performance even more subdued and complex than Bud Cort in Harold and Maude. And Robbie Coltrane is a hugely under-appreciated comic talent - the John Candy of Great Britain.

I seldom gush over a movie...but this one hit the spot.

Everyone should expect that in a film called 'Perfectly Normal' no one actually is, and sure enough, the dull routine of everyman Michael Riley is upended by an amiable, overweight con artist (Robbie Coltrane), who before long is coaxing Riley out of his sociopathic shell and into a dress to sing an aria from Bellini's 'Norma' at an opera-themed restaurant. The film obviously wants to be eccentric and unpredictable, but the effort only makes it look strained, although director Yves Simoneau tries hard to juice up the scenario with enough camera tricks to make even Spike Lee dizzy. There's an irrelevant romantic subplot, and the restaurant scheme is just plain silly, but any movie mixing opera and ice hockey can't be all bad. Simoneau shows some genuine affection for his characters (Riley and Coltrane together resemble a New Wave Laurel and Hardy), but in the end the film delivers exactly what the title promises: an offbeat but unexceptional comedy.