Buried on Sunday

Having had the misfortune to sit through this entire film, I can honestly say it was a complete waste of time. While the premise of poking fun at Canadian/American relations seems to have a lot of promise as a satire, the movie ultimately fails with its weak plot and over-exaggerated characterizations. One almost gets the impression that the writer simply wiped his rear end on a piece of paper and called it a screenplay.

None of the characters in "Buried On A Sunday" are interesting, and I felt incredibly embarassed for all of the actors in this self-indulgent movie such as Paul Gross and Maury Chaykin. Such a waste of talent...but then again, perhaps they simply needed the income.

Thankfully, "Buried On A Sunday" isn't indicative of all films in Canada as there have been a number of good ones made since then (e.g. "The Sweet Hereafter", "Cube", "Lost & Delirious", "Mambo Italiano", "Ginger Snaps", "Spider"). If all films were like this one, then the future of the Canadian film industry would definitely be in jeopardy.

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 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.

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?

There is some good acting in this movie, but not much. I wouldn't put all the blame on the actors though; they don't seem to have much to work with, as far as dialogue goes. The script is fairly weak and uneven overall - this movie is not funny and not enough of a satire to justify its implausibility, and not serious enough to make a hard social statement.

Maury Chaykin's presence is the best part of this movie (despite his working with poor dialogue). Unfortunately, although he plays a major character, that character seems to take a back seat most of the time, his actions being mostly inconsequential, despite his role as the Prime Minister's apparent right-hand man, therefore making the best part of this movie a relatively unimportant part.