Eh for effort

Film scores points for Canadian-ness, and that’s about it

THE GO-GETTERS

★★ out of 5

Cast: Aaron Abrams, Brendan Gall, Tommie-Amber Pirie, Kristian Bruun

Director: Jeremy LaLonde

Duration: 1h23m After a few recent Canadian films that have done everything they can to hide their Canadianness — Tiger, and to a lesser extent Love Jacked — here’s one that at least wears its heart and provincial map on its sleeve. All the grade-A screw-ups at the centre of this story have to do is beg, borrow, steal or turn tricks to scrape together bus fare to get them from Toronto to Brockville. It’s the 338-kilometre challenge.

They are Owen (Aaron Abrams, who co-wrote the script with Brendan Gall) and Lacie (Tommie-Amber Pirie). He’s a drunk who’s been making his home in a bar owned by his brother (Kristian Bruun). She’s a prostitute with a heart of — OK, she’s a prostitute.

Director Jeremy LaLonde (Baroness von Sketch Show) seems to have given himself a challenge — make a comedy in which the two protagonists are not only completely unlovable; they’re kind of hateable. The best thing you can say about them is that they deserve each other.

It doesn’t work out, for the characters or the viewer. Owen resorts to less and less lucrative, more and more humiliating ways to make a buck, culminating in having to stand in for Lacie for a sex act while also impersonating someone of a different race. I imagine the ratings board took the rest of the day off after this one.

There’s also a scene in which Owen and Lacie get into a protracted argument with a cabbie over their fare, which they claim they can’t pay. It’s long and involved and not especially funny — but hey, it’s Canadian.