Trailer Park Boys: The Movie

One of the great things about Trailer Park Boys on TV are the scripts. In a half hour format, they are cleaver and tight. The movie format with the given script only stretched it out and makes it flabby.

If the film had been conceived with the same snappy pace as the TV versions if would have been much better; perhaps four snappy subplots cleverly linked together. The film draws too much on previous TV episodes and needs more new material.

While the production values are better than the TV series, I don't think this works for the film either. TPB are down and dirty; no polish required.

I saw it today at a screening here in Victoria, BC Any hard-care TPB fan will be happy with the translation to the Big Screen. No contrived "fish out of water" plot-lines or cameos by unlikely big Hollywood stars.

The budget was spent on a few car crashes, and that's about it. Viewers outside of Canada or not-too-familiar with the characters will be able to follow the characters.

Plenty of dope-selling talk, liquor and whores: the staple of life in Sunnyvale.

Die-hard fans of the show will be able to spot recurring characters and actors from previous episodes.

I am a huge fan of the complete series and I was worried that the film would disappoint me. Luckily, it did not.

Clattenburg and his team managed to craft a Trailer Park Boys film which has an excellent story, and indeed the story itself is a somewhat "typical" TPB story - something a fan immediately can recognize and acknowledge. Although I believe that people who have yet not seen the series might not completely follow at all times, the very same people will never find themselves lost while watching the film. I mean, the film introduces the characters rather well to those who make their first acquaintance with our Trailer Park heroes, but the film has much more to offer those who know the characters well.

Do yourself a favour and get the series or the film and enjoy some white trash mockumentary tonight. In conclusion, the film is great. 7/10

Attended the US premiere last night here in Austin, as part of the SXSW Film Festival. Got a pic taken with my Canadian wife, Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles, which should tell you what a dork I am.... :) Overall, I agree with the comments here that the movie is okay for long-time TPB fans, but is kind of a watered down version, probably meant to not snow over the initial viewer. Some good laughs, but I think I have laughed as much at some of the individual episodes, each of which are about 30% the length of this. That being said, I am sure I will add the DVD to my collection.

In the Q&A after, the question was asked, "when can we see more TPB in the States?" I think Mike Clattenburg. was there answering, didn't pay much attention to the name when he was introduced, but the answer was that there simply is too much censorship here. He referenced the one season they tried, on BBCA, and I remember that debacle. Too many bleeps to follow the dialog. But one thing that kind of amazed me is that amazon.ca was not mentioned as a source to get all of the DVDs. A lot of my fellow film-goers didn't know this either. It's not network, but it is available....

Bonus: All the attendees last night were given complementary key-chains by Mike C... Yay!!!

I caught the private screening hosted by Ivan Reitman on Sept 11th in Toronto. I enjoyed the movie a lot. I was mostly impressed with Rob Wells and Mike Smith, who really stepped up their performances for the big screen. Any fans of the show will surely like the movie, so be sure to check it out. It's tough to say whether the movie will gain fans outside of Canada, but let's keep in mind that Canadian movies like Porky's and Meatballs did so I wouldn't be surprised if TPB:The Movie obtains the same cult-like fan base. As a side note, I was surprised by the amount of T & A used. I could see how it was added much in the same way comedy movies from the 1980s used it to pacify the audience. I'm still undecided about whether or not it was necessary and it may have taken away from the inside- tone of the show's/movie's concept.