Fubar

FUBAR (an obscene acronym from the military) is an amazing accomplishment. It tore onto the scene at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001, after being turned down by the Toronto fest. The classic success story of guys who maxed out their credit cards (including their Canadian Tire cards) and took a giant leap into the uncertain future - and it paid off. Telefilm Canada decided to fund the movie (after it was already shot on digital video), and "beefed" the budget up to $350,000 (Cdn.) They did a good job promoting the movie through a soundtrack featuring Sum 41, Gob, Sloan, etc. doing classic Canadian headbangin' tunes. This movie has it all: hilarity and drunken hijinx, intense drama, and incredible acting (although I wonder how much the beer had to do with this). Go see this movie, it is much more than the trailers would suggest: much more than guys acting loud and stupid. It's actually a touching film, with a look at the two main character's fear of mortality.

This is a stoner rock mockumentary. I love the opening credits that tells the audience that this is fictional but apologizing to anybody participating in the film who thought it was real. It's 2000 and filmmaker Farrel Mitchner (Gordon Skilling) documents two head banging friends Dean Murdoch (Paul Spence) and Terry Cahill (David Lawrence). The boys are trying to get Troy nicknamed Tron to party.

This is filled with great bits of comedy. The two leads fully commit to these characters. There are truly funny moments that surprises. The natural comparison is to Spinal Tap. Spinal Tap is always obviously fictional filled with great improvisational comedians. This feels like real people doing a real indie. These guys would fit into any Cops episode. Giver!

This movie was so well acted that i cant believe they were not really drinking all nite. There are so many parts of the movie that I lived through. The camping trip was classic, from not trying to set up the tent until you are too drunk to jumping through the fire. The story had to be written by a true 80's headbanger and is a trip down hazy memory lane. This movie wont appeal to everyone, but with the success of the Osbournes there is a lot of people wanting to jump on the bangerwagon. This movie will help them learn what it takes to be a hard core banger.

Honestly the first 30 minutes of this film is fairly painful as we watch the main characters played by Dave Lawrence and Paul Spence go through their childhood, as twenty-somethings with meaningless jobs and non existent friends and six pack after six pack. Farrel, the documentary filmmaker, decides to follow these Canadian fellows and make a film on their "so-called" life. As one character discovers a health issue that turns his life upside down, the two characters (and the filmmaker) start a journey into the woods and mother nature to excise their fear. It's only at this point that the film really gets going and the director is finally able to take the saran wrap off the characters and let them emote something more than pure silliness. The production value is low but the story while simple is executed well. Look forward for the Director's next film about a deaf deejay: All Gone Pete Tong.

I was sold with the tagline: GIVER. These guys are so genuinely into their lives that you can't help but admire them, even though they are like, the quintessential lowlifes, complete with illegitimate children and sordid tales of fingerbanging cousins (eww..). Either way, they are having the best time with what they have, and it's great fun to watch, even though it's all fake. I have never been in a theatre with a movie playing that brought down the house. It was awesome. I can shotgun better than Farrell (although that doesn't seem very hard to do). His cake was priceless. 10/10