Real Time

Smart melancholic drama filled with clever dialog. Randy Quaid shows his chops as tough as nails hit man with a secret and Jay Baruchel is convincing as a beyond hope gambler with nothing to lose. The plot is uneventful but the chemistry between these two characters carries the story to its clever end.

A brief appearance by Jayne Eastwood as Andy's grandmother helps to carry the films theme of luck vs self determination in a short but enjoyable scene. I walked away feeling rewarded for my patience and thinking just a little.

Good stuff.

I noticed a posting "Best film of the Toronto Film Festival" -- now that had to be one of the WORST film Festivals I have EVER heard of.

Randy Quaid and Jay Baruchel did their jobs as far as the acting goes, but come on??????? --- wheres the story? There is no way on this green earth that a hard ass hit man is going to go that route.

This was boring, long drawn out BS.... another total waste of time. -- What is with the film industry today? Has our economy gotten so bad that they have to stoop to low budget crap to infiltrate the market just to give us something to watch? Jeeeezzzzzzz Come ON PLEASE!!!!!!!.

How can anyone give this a 10?

3 at best.

Real Time, the second feature of writer/director Randall Cole (19 Months) made its Canadian debut at the Toronto International Film Festival after being the opening night feature at the Slamdance Festival earlier this year.

Opening with a twitchy, expletive-laden, nervous tirade, Ottawa's Jay Baruchel (Knocked Up, Million Dollar Baby) gives the best performance of his young career as Andy Hayes; a doomed gambling addict bemoaning his constant bad luck.

Pulling up alongside Andy in his big black Town Car is Aussie ex-pat Reuben played by Randy Quaid (The Last Detail, Brokeback Mountain) who gives another in a long career filled with excellent performances. Glancing up at Reuben's car, Andy quickly turns on his heel and walks in the opposite direction down the sidewalk to which Reuben calmly puts the car in reverse. Thus begins a hilarious pas-de-deux between man and car on a grey street in Hamilton.

After a stern invitation, Andy reluctantly gets in the car where we discover that we will be spending much of the last hour and a half of his life with him. Quaid's Reuben quietly explains that he has been given the assignment of killing Andy, but will give him until 3pm to get his affairs in order.

Thus our adventure begins, with director Cole cleverly echoing Hal Ashby's 'The Last Detail' in which Quaid takes on the Nicholson role of guiding his young charge in the last moments before an inevitable fate is to befall him.

Both of these character actors are clearly relishing the freedom afforded them by having lead roles in this excellent comedic drama. Quaid's hit man is kind, thoughtful, and contemplative all the while simmering with potential violence, while occasionally flashing a glimpse of the goofy grin we first saw from him in Peter Bogdanovich's 'The Last Picture Show'. Baruchel brilliantly portrays the sadness all too common in people who choose not to engage beyond the perfunctory with the world at large.

Even as events unfold in real time, there is a surreal timelessness evoked as we glide along dilapidated streets, with Reuben as our guide, while a radio station that will bring a smile to the lips of anyone who has a soft spot for 70s Can Con plays innocently along the way.

With cats (both dead and alive), unspeakable acts on potato salad, a somewhat addled shut-in Grandma (national treasure, Jayne Eastwood) and horizontal urination, there are plenty of laughs throughout; despite the serious subject matter in Real Time.

While the film is full of razor-sharp dialogue, writer/director Cole also allows us space, as we are driven through the beautifully shot ugliness of The Hammer's streets, in which Quaid & Baruchel draw us into their messed up worlds, to this point in time.

This thoughtful film invites us to examine how we choose to spend our time, as Andy contemplates a life that has lead him deep into a thick woods with Reuben's gun at his back…

This film will stay with you long after the credits roll. You will be glad you spent these 79 minutes in Real Time.

i watched this and OMG a great movie, a great ending. A sublime movie within a movie after you see it once and the ending you have to watch it again, the first time you see it tells you a whole new movie now that you know, you watch it again and see it from a different perspective.

is a bit slow to start of and there is no action like most Hollywood dumps that are coming out, but if you want to see a great story this film will entertain you.

Hollywood should do more like this VION- Virtual Internet Online Navagitor

I saw the 87-minute version of this film on The Movie Network.

If you don't guess the ending of this film in the first 10 or so minutes, then you're not thinking very hard.

Also, as other commentors have noted, the wandering Australian-American-British accent sported by Quaid is extremely distracting from the film, in a really bad way. What was the point of that? There is no need for the character to be Australian, or to have an Australian accent. But there are plenty of actual Australian actors who could have done the job well, if the accent is important. Were they all unavailable?

But I absolutely commend the filmmakers on being reasonably honest with their film. They don't hide the Canadian setting, or try to make it look like some generic US city (except for the bizarre license plate from no jurisdiction ... what's up with that?). It's so refreshing, and this is what we need to see more of in English Canadian cinema.

It could even be an OK film, except for that accent, and the too-obvious ending. Better luck next time, folks. I actually am looking forward to your next effort, despite the negative review.