Blue State - Eine Reise ins Blaue

The people who ripped into the movie for portraying a one-dimensional Canada or taking potshots at Bush are missing the point.

Canada as a locale in the movie is merely a convenient shorthand-- it could have been Mexico or the UK or Australia, the point is that it's a foreign country. Calling 'Blue State' "anti-Canadian propaganda" is a bit like calling South Park's portrayal of egghead Canadians "anti-Canadian propaganda".

And, it may be just me, but I felt that 'Blue State' pokes more fun at the Democrat zealot than of Dubya-- for a considerable portion of the movie, and when he's on tirade-mode, it seems to me that John is portrayed as a sad, almost ridiculous figure.

That aside, the leads are believable and exhibit romantic chemistry, and make their characters likable. Especially Breckin Meyer-- as written, John is a self-important, uptight person for most of the film, but Meyer imbues his character with humanity.

Overall a mild political satire and competent, heartfelt romantic road trip.

A self-mocking indictment against taking life too seriously, as ever the redeeming power of love wins out, with the moral - at the end - being that it is better to act locally than to run away.

As for suggestions that the movie is partisan, I think not, this is merely a matter of character portrayal.

Excellent acting by the hero and heroine. Very enjoyable and absorbing to watch.

A self-mocking indictment against taking life too seriously, as ever the redeeming power of love wins out, with the moral - at the end - being that it is better to act locally than to run away.

As for suggestions that the movie is partisan, I think not, this is merely a matter of character portrayal.

Excellent acting by the hero and heroine. Very enjoyable and absorbing to watch.

This is a typical formula romantic comedy in that the couple fight and insult each other for most of the film then suddenly get the hots for each other at the end after getting plastered on home made Canadian beer. It is an unusual romantic comedy in that I found myself hoping the whole film he would escape from her. She was totally wrong for him. She was an soldier in Iraq. He is a rabid peace activist. She lives on junk food and meat. He is a vegetarian. He is highly idealistic. She is totally self centred. He easy going and rational. She is erratic and touchy. There is no attraction besides sex. Usually such differences just create fodder for humour, but in this movie, it turns into a mild horror.

The movie is mostly them sniping at each other. There are two other notable scenes.

In one they go to meet the boy's father, who seems to think he is Rush Limbaugh, or at least a worshipper. It is quite over the top, packing in every Republican stereotype into a few minutes. It is hilarious, horrifying and depressing.

In another scene, he almost marries a gigantic older woman besotted with him that he just met to help him toward Canadian citizenship. It is just creepy.

Other than those two scenes, not much happens. It is like travels of a handsome young man with his cranky cat companion. She is not intelligent enough to say anything interesting, and not stupid enough to be amusing.

This is a strongly anti-Bush film. It was made by Canadians. It has fun with the stereotypes Americans and Canadians have about each other.

I really wanted to like this film -- it is a great idea! However, the comic undertones of the film quickly gave way to a downbeat drama and the portrayal of one of the most dysfunctional families ever seen on film.

My enjoyment of the movie dwindled as the film went on and on and on. It wasn't really the acting (at least not of the main characters), or even the directing, but rather the writing that was at fault. The script is heavy handed and unbelievable.

On top of this, the writer should have at least visited Canada, or checked out some facts about the country before writing so egregiously. The movie makes it look like Winnipeg is a day's drive from Washington state; Canada border guards do not ask Americans to see their passports at the border - they ask for identification (Social Security number, driver's license, etc.); Winnipeg does not enjoy Chinooks (where weather changes 30 degrees in a day) that's Calgary; By 2004 when this film takes place you would have a hard time finding any Canadian boasting of universal health care; and you really don't hear that tall poppy story up here -- that is a story Americans use to describe Canadians, not a story Canadians use to describe themselves.

Overall, this was a missed opportunity for a very funny, poignant and timely film that really missed its mark. The plot was good, the main actors good, but the actual writing was very clumsy.

At first I find it pretty entertaining, but then after sometime it just keep dragging on and it end up to be pretty much --- boring. I have no idea was the movie about when I first watch it, it seem like a nice independent production movie but in the end it was way too average propaganda movie with an American point of view of Canada.

The main reason I watch it was because I pretty much familiar with the actors Anna Paquin and Breckin Meyer. Most of their movie is pretty much watchable so I went along with it in this one. The story is so-so; nothing great can be said about it; except it makes Canada look like a really dreadful place and people are very much a freak.

Nothing much developed during the course of the movie except we get to learn the reasons why they wanted to move to Canada, and the rest is just gap filler. The paces of the film never change but keep constantly slow and somehow not one single moment of memorable scene.

I say the film might have work a whole lot better with other direction (and better script), cause this is way too simple and boring and nothing much has been added to help to set the mood of the film any better.

The best of the film got to be the casting and that what might be the only things that attract people to watch this movie. Their acting that was kept me watching it and nothing else.

Overall it is not a movie I would recommend to anyone, cause it just plain boring and one sided. There are some potential but the film has been made and it is not up to the par.

Reason To Watch: Anna Paquin and Breckin.

Reason Not To: Dreadful.

Rating: 4/10 (Grade: F)