Being Canadian

This "documentary" is a parade of inferiority complexes that belong to the idiosyncrasies of comedians that drive them to do comedy and not to Canadians. It was deprecating to the point of absurdity, made no sincere attempts to answer any of it's questions and didn't dare to tread near a critical answer except by accident when a few of our more philosophically minded celebrities happened upon an thoughtful answer. I was embarrassed and angered to have watched this, it felt like a mean-spirited American mockumentary about Canada.

It completely elided our native population, was wildly dismissive of our French population, and, frankly, displayed Alberta's particular brand of narcissism.

Again, I was embarrassed to have watched this episode of One Guy Musing About His Personal Inadequacies and flabbergasted that he dared to present it as representing an entire country. Literally, shame on Mr. Cohen for this lazy pastiche of clichés presented in exaggerations of their worst framing.

You wanted to make this movie to shatter Canadian stereotypes? Then claim to be in Ottawa on June 24th and it's snowing!!! I looked it up. Has never snowed on that day. Average high 25.2 Celsius. 78.3 for you Americans.

So misleading and adding to the stereotype.

I actually can't say much more about the documentary as I actually turned it off the write this review.

Now I'm just filling in space because apparently you can't just make it short and sweet. Only 131 characters to go.

Hope you doing something fun and or different tomorrow. Always makes for an interesting day. Thanks for reading. Peace out.

"Being Canadian" is an okayish documentary but that is how far my praise goes. It is just okayish. Mildly entertaining, at times, and certainly not funny in the slightest. Now before I start I am English so I won't be approaching this from a Canadian perspective as I am an outsider. I do love visiting Canada though which is the main reason I watched this.

I have visited the great white north and it is a great place to go look around. Saying that, this documentary does miss a few provinces on its trip around Canada and it seems stupid to me that it misses the Yukon Territory, which is a stunning wilderness, and Prince Edward Island which is a gorgeous place. The journey they take in this film is so rushed that it doesn't feel complete and I can't help but think if they allowed more time to explore properly they would have made a better film.

The general question Robert Cohen asks is "what is it that makes Canada and its citizens great?" This is a pretty ambiguous question and one that is answered very poorly by Cohen. He comes to a pretty weak conclusion and to get there just simply mentions clichés about Canada and poses them to famous Canadians.

While it is quant to go "holy sh*t Mike Myers is Canadian!!" the amusement wears off very quickly and you start to think what the actual point of him being there is. Most of the famous Canadians don't really shed any light on national history, they just cop out going for the boring questions that people think of to ask a Canadian. Cohen does ask the help of some Canadian history experts but they have about 3 minutes of screen time….that's it!

I would have preferred a bit more about Canadian history, as an outsider looking in. The only thing that is really said is that "it is not taught in American schools" which is a bit of a stupid thing to say really. In English schools we aren't taught about Scottish history or Irish history. Just because two countries are attached doesn't give an obligation to teach each other's history.

The comedy in this falls so flat at times that it is actually destroying the tone of the documentary. I do understand that some documentaries can be funny as well as educational but in this film it just fails so hard it makes the people look dumb when they say something profound about Canada. For instance there is this stupid bit where Cohen is interviewing Dave Foley in bed with both of them half naked FOR NO REASON!??! It is such a crap joke and has no real context in anything.

I wish they had done better with this film as there are some things that were interesting and some interesting facts were presented in a fun way which was very entertaining. I did like the way it shouts Canada's achievements and it did, in places, make me think of the important contributions Canada has made to the world.

However most of the documentary was taken up with rehashing Canadian clichés and the input from all of the stars left me a bit underwhelmed. This documentary did not feel like a labour of love done by people who really loved the subject they were talking about. It is just a star studded mess. Sorry EH!

I had a love-hate relationship with this documentary, much like I did during the Canadian winters I experienced while living there.

As an Australian who lived there for almost 2 years, I often straddled that line between being 'tourist' and 'local' - many of the questions posed in this documentary were things I asked myself and Canadians during my time there!

It's basically a bunch of segments (questions) about Canadian culture and its identity, strung over a loose travelogue. Some segments were hilarious and a lot better than others - I was definitely laughing out loud, nodding my head in agreement and generally thought it captured Canadians quite well.

But the presenter, Robert Cohen really lacks charisma and comes across super annoying and self-indulgent. Part of me wishes the travelogue aspect of it (cross-Canada road trip) had been more involved. But the other part of me was just grateful for the film to end when stuff begins happening like Cohen driving to his former school to swear at it - what the hell?

The highlight was the $18 million maple syrup heist - HELLO MOST CANADIAN CRIME EVER!? As well as the often hilarious insights and anecdotes by the Canadian celebrities and identities.

After a while, each province just turned into "I still don't have an answer".. And he just seemed really bummed out at the end of it, before suddenly becoming proud of Canada. Sticking around was worth it for the "hippip hurray" though.

If others don't happen to agree with my review, "I'm really sorry, eh" ;)

Comedy writer Robert Cohen, born in Calgary, Alberta directs this documentary which tries to delve into the Canadian psyche in various ways, including Cohen's perceptions of its love-hate relationship with the United States and the Canadian inferiority complex and apparent self-deprecation.

Cohen will try and put a humorous spin on those issues, as well as a number of others, as he travels by minivan across Canada, beginning in Nova Scotia and ending in Vancouver, British Columbia for Canada Day, some 9 days later. Along the way they'll be some interviews with various citizens in different milieus, as well as the perspectives of many famous Canadians, many of whom are household names.

As Cohen will come to learn, his original premise may have been rather faulty, and I can say that as an American, who's traveled to Canada a number of times, I've admired the Canadian lifestyle, and could easily see myself living there if circumstances warranted.

Note: there were no subtitles on my DVD copy and the sound quality could have been better.

Overall, I thought this film can be humorous and filled with interesting factoids about Canada.However, it can become repetitious, at times, perhaps with trying too hard to prove the premises of the filmmaker.