At a special screening in Toronto, director Mike McGowan claimed that this movie was meant, at least in part, to be "a love poem to Canada." It's a noble idea, and one which has not received that much treatment in film. Certainly the trailer promised everything one could want in a film about this great country; majestic landscapes, a killer soundtrack, giant tacky roadside attractions, Gord Downie, Joel Plaskett, even the Stanley Cup! So it's truly a shame that One Week more or less fails to achieve coherence as a film.
The main problem with this film the weak script. McGowan can't seem to decide whether he's making a lighthearted, fun movie about a romp across Canada or a serious drama about how people react to news of a terminal illness. In the end, he achieves neither, and we're left wondering what the point was. Moreover, several key episodes seem to drop out of nowhere, requiring a little too much suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience.
I also had a great deal of difficulty sympathizing with the characters. The protagonist, dissatisfied with the life he has built for himself, heads out on a journey of discovery, but he doesn't seem to know exactly what he wants to find, and we're never really sure if he's found it. He's rebellious enough to treat those that love him with disdain, but not so much so that he ever seems to fully "embrace randomness" as he claims to want to do. Joshua Jackson spends almost the entire movie wearing the exact same expression of tepid annoyance, and while the ever-present narrator does his best to explain what's going on inside Ben's head, his actions don't seem to match.
Even the trip itself is flawed, moving as it does from Toronto to Tofino and ignoring eastern Canada completely. Perhaps McGowan felt that the movie's credibility was stretched thin enough as it was, but he couldn't resist throwing in a couple of stereotypical Newfoundlanders and a Quebecois folk song to cover his bases. Somehow, I suspect that viewers in St. John's, Montreal, and Halifax will not take the bait.
Canada is a country composed of many vibrant and unique communities separated by vast empty expanses. However, we share a common narrative that holds us together as a country. This common narrative is exactly what this movie is missing, and why, despite some enjoyable moments, it falls apart in the end.
The main problem with this film the weak script. McGowan can't seem to decide whether he's making a lighthearted, fun movie about a romp across Canada or a serious drama about how people react to news of a terminal illness. In the end, he achieves neither, and we're left wondering what the point was. Moreover, several key episodes seem to drop out of nowhere, requiring a little too much suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience.
I also had a great deal of difficulty sympathizing with the characters. The protagonist, dissatisfied with the life he has built for himself, heads out on a journey of discovery, but he doesn't seem to know exactly what he wants to find, and we're never really sure if he's found it. He's rebellious enough to treat those that love him with disdain, but not so much so that he ever seems to fully "embrace randomness" as he claims to want to do. Joshua Jackson spends almost the entire movie wearing the exact same expression of tepid annoyance, and while the ever-present narrator does his best to explain what's going on inside Ben's head, his actions don't seem to match.
Even the trip itself is flawed, moving as it does from Toronto to Tofino and ignoring eastern Canada completely. Perhaps McGowan felt that the movie's credibility was stretched thin enough as it was, but he couldn't resist throwing in a couple of stereotypical Newfoundlanders and a Quebecois folk song to cover his bases. Somehow, I suspect that viewers in St. John's, Montreal, and Halifax will not take the bait.
Canada is a country composed of many vibrant and unique communities separated by vast empty expanses. However, we share a common narrative that holds us together as a country. This common narrative is exactly what this movie is missing, and why, despite some enjoyable moments, it falls apart in the end.