Amor a primera vista

This film is a real Canadian gem. It is made up of so many small and subtle bits, and has a warm, kind feel. Two people making it their way. Fun and quirky. Chinese take-out for breakfast in Niagara Falls in the winter. What more could you ask for?

"Love at First Sight" is Dan Aykroyd's first film, and although low budget, it's funny, funny, funny.

Don't let the grimey run-down appearance of the film and its location scare you off. Set in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the early 1970's, LAFS is the story of Roy, a 20-something blind man who falls unexpectedly in love with Shirley, an unemployed young woman in search of a love and a future.

Shirley's father however, has different plans for his daughter. Believing that Roy is an unfit match for Shirley, he forbids the two from seeing one another ever again. With some surprise financial assistance from Shirley's grandmother, Shirley and Roy soon elope together to Niagara Falls, where they open a successful restaurant and live happily ever after.

LAFS is quirkey, well written and the characters are hilarious. Shirley's bigoted, beer guzzling dumb Canuck of a father is alone worth the price of admission.

Also, keep your eye out for all sorts of funny little details going on in the background, and just try to note all of the somewhat puzzling KFC references in the film (including a cameo by Col. Sanders himself).

LAFS is a sweetheart of a film, and it also contains one of my favourite (and strangest) movie lines ever: "Go ahead Shirley, touch the janitor's genitals."

Budget clearly means little when all the other elements are first rate. So many of the gags are subtle - not so they're hard to spot, but there's no special effort made to draw your attention to them.

The KFC goof was one of my all time favourite "little" moments in a movie.....not least because it takes about 1\2 the movie to get from the setup to the punchline.

I'm not sure why I need to write more lines of text, but apparently I do. I really don't have a lot more to say about this little gem of a movie, but I suppose I can keep typing, just to fill up space. Think of all the ones and zeros that are giving their lives so pointlessly.

This was a sweet movie, what it lacks in plot it makes up for in charm. The low budget and lack of a real sound track, add to this. It feels like your watching your high school's two geeky awkward kids finally start dating, and it is just unbelievably sweet.

In some ways this is just like every other low budget easy comedy made during this time, but the couple of shirley and Roy give it a new tenderness. Slow in some parts sure, but theres a strong realness to this movie. It plays out like how you imagine your parents meet, a fantasy sure, but based on something that you yourself know to be very true.

Consensus: sweet, real, and only an hour and 20 minutes

If you like this movie I recommend Rosalie goes Shopping

When I was living in Toronto in the late 70's I went to school across the street from the local Canadian National Institute for the Blind and there was a young fellow working the desk there that I interacted with over a couple of years. When I first saw Aykroyd's performance in Love at First Sight I was shocked. It was a uncanny impression of the fellow I knew from CNIB. I've always wondered whether this is where he got his inspiration. It is a very nuanced performance. What a great talent Dan Aykroyd is.

And the film has a lot of very funny moments. Watch out for the first time he takes her home. Genius.