Buried on Sunday

This was probably one of the stupidest movies I've ever had the misfortune to see. I didn't laugh once while watching it. While I understand that the intent of this film was to be an over-the-top farce, I've seen dog food commercials that were far more entertaining and funny.

It's too bad Paul Gross even had to do this god awful piece of garbage, as it was an utter waste of his talent as an actor. At times, one feels as if he/she were watching a series of bad Saturday Night Live sketches. It would truly be a shame for the world to think that all Canadian films were this bad.

First let me say that this is not the great Canadian movie (that would be Jesus de Montreal) but it does entertain. It was made by the same studio which makes "This Hour has 22 Min" and "Codco" (non Canadian readers will not have a clue what I'm talking about)and a similar type of humour exists here. The basic story of a small fishing village attempting to break off from Canada and become a nation is a comment on the real problem of Quebec independence. The acting is not the best (Gross and Cherney are OK) but some of the references are so canuck they jump out at you. At one point two nuclear missiles are being used to force the governments hand. One is aimed at Mt. Rushmore, because the Americans would get after the Canadian government and force a resolution. The other is aimed at what they believe is a Canadian landmark of similar importance...Canada's Wonderland (for those who don't know it's an amusment park).

Not the greatest, but worth a watch on a rainy day..

A Canadian government suspension of an island community's fishing rights coincides with the defection of crew members of a Russian nuclear submarine. The villagers want their fishing rights back, which Ottawa has traded away to Portugal. They declare independence from Canada and plan a nuclear attack on U.S. and Canadian targets. It's all very far fetched, but I just love it when the Canadian prime minister brown noses the U.S. vice-president. (It's not important enough for the President to be involved.)

This movie has its odd moments, but it's got fun performances from Chaykin (totally in his element), Gross (somehow making "unwashed" look sexy), and Virieux (whose character provides a somewhat saner counterpoint to the other two). Only in a Canadian film could you achieve such seriousness about such silliness, or vice versa, and still manage to throw in dark humor and good-looking leads. Moments of seriousness intrude; insane mobs and philosophizing, not-quite-kosher ministers; government-vs.-the-little-people; nuclear submarines and spontaneous combustion abound. You get to enjoy many of your favorite Canadian character actors with cameo parts ("hey! I've seen that guy somewhere!"), and by the movie's end, you find yourself wanting to don plaid and go catch some fish.

Although I liked the movie, I didn't see the credits given to the original writers of this story...in its original form...the writers of "The Mouse That Roared". Why not?

I'm sure that plagiarism isn't intended in this case...only a good story, set in a Canadian context.

And the research was lame. Among the gaffs, Canadian Naval Officers don't have the "curly-q" on their sleeves, just the rings. The "curly-q" is a Brit thing...we aren't Brits. A small amount of research would replace assumption with fact.

As in most Canadian films, all of the usual suspects were cast. Except...was Leslie Nielson busy?