Walk All Over Me

Tricia Helfer sparkles nicely in this "Bizarro World" comedy directed by Robert Cuffley. In some ways it hearkens back to the mid-1930s and to some of the great screwball comedies of that era, except with a much harder and daring edge to it. She's an old friend of the bungling ingénue from a hick town ( Lee Lee Sobieski ), who has made a niche for herself in the big bad city by becoming a pro dominatrix.

For those who don't know, being a dominatrix is a lifestyle choice with psychological and sexual overtones, but rarely involving actual sex. It is about psycho-sexual mind games and role-playing, with its own rules and subculture. In all of that, Helfer's characterization and charm seems to be admirably suited for the choice of Celine.

Sobieski takes a brilliant turn as the goofy young friend who simply cannot keep out of her own way. There is in all of this comedic action a dark undercurrent of criminal behavior, as Sobieski's character -- ironically named Alberta -- blunders her way into and out of real trouble where there's real violence done to the real people in her life. She's like a lightning rod in that regard.

The genius of the film lies in how the director and these two superb actresses move the story forward, almost effortlessly, as every time Alberta stumbles into a predicament whatever she does next fails to resolve the problem. It only brings a worse and yet even funnier predicament.

The DVD presentation is terrific and there's just enough of Sobieski's beautiful body shown ( for the right reasons ), to warrant this film having a most sensible R rating. There's just too much sexual role playing in the plot for young teens, and it is not something in the way of entertainment for pre-teen youngsters, at all, period.

Aside from that caveat, this is one goofy, wacky, well-done comedy.

The criminal behavior involved in the plot is diluted somewhat by the hapless nature of the three criminal characters. They are bad hombres for sure but just so darned incompetent that they don't really frighten anyone, all that much ... adults, that is.

They are not misunderstood, it should be noted, these characters -- but they are comically incoherent and impulsive.

So this film ought to and does get seven stars out of ten, with two additional boxes of popcorn tossed in for good measure.

This is a movie that sort of starts off at a slower pace but as it trundles along, gets more involving and enjoyable. Really liking some of the off-beat, Canadian humour and with charming, engaging characters. I think the 18 rating is not a good reflection of the content. It's neither sexy or a violent thriller but being hard to classify is great plus point.

This was a rather funny movie that had wonderful bits of insanity throughout. I felt that Leelee Sobieski did a fine job of being the screwy person way out of her league. Everything she touched turned to fertilizer. I had seen Tricia Helfer in a few television shows where she was effective, but here she steps up nicely to steal the show. She is trying to be in control of everything but Leelee Sobieski is too much for any controlled, organized person to handle. The remaining cast of violent and crazy people fills out the story in a humorous and rather frightening way. To me, there was a nice amount of tension being built as the story comes to its conclusion. Not a classic,but a nice rental to fill out an evening's viewing.

I didn't think the bumbling bad guys worked at all. It would have been more effective if they were menacing. Most of the rest of the movie is played straight. It was an interesting enough premise.

Alberta (Leelee Sobieski) seems to do nothing but get herself involved with trouble. Fleeing one such scenario, she stows on a bus to Vancouver, to stay with her former babysitter (Tricia Helfer). Turns out her "aunt" Celene is now paying her bills as a dominatrix. Alberta is curious, and can't help but get involved, posing as Celene. This gets Leelee into some incredibly hot outfits (as well as more trouble). I suppose that was the main appeal for me in Walk All Over Me. Actually, I did enjoy it when Celene beats up the French-Canadian guy (or whatever the hell that accent was supposed to be. His name was Rene Leblanc, or something like that, so I'm making some assumptions). Am I sensing a theme? Celene, Rene, Alberta, in a Canadian production?

I'm surprised by the number of people who consider Leelee a bad actress. I've watched 3 of her movies in the last 2 nights, and she plays completely different characters in all of them. And I'm the first to point out a bad performance. Here, she plays a naive, meek young woman who gets to taste a little empowerment. She was quite good.

Whilst, for the main part I found this distinctly average, the awesome cleavage of Leelee Sobieski kept me glued to the screen.

The sight of her wonderful breasts was truly something to behold. All the cast do a fine job, and there are some laughs to be had!! I'm not sure why it was billed as a thriller.