Inspired by the 2012 phenomenon, this is an excellent and extremely funny exploration of anxiety. The first rate script by Michael Seater (who conceived the idea for the story with Lauren Collins) hits all of the right notes. It considers the issue of anxiety through the prism of a teenage girl who fears that the end of the world is imminent. The apocalypse is a fantastic allegory for the pressures that teenagers face in their everyday lives, pressures which are often unfairly dismissed by older people. That said, there is much in the film's insightful, well-observed and respectful treatment of its subject matter to which people who have left their teenage years behind would be able to relate. While said treatment is certainly the strongest aspect of the film, the witty, enjoyably self-aware script is full to brim with very funny lines. The deft comic touch ensures that the potentially very depressing issues that the film considers never overwhelm it. Seater directs the material with a great sense of style and flair, striking a perfect balance between the two strands.
The film stars Morgan Taylor Campbell in a truly wonderful performance as Sadie Mitchell, a 16-year-old high school student who has always been, in her own words, "air quotes prone to anxiety." For most of her life, this tendency has manifested itself in normal ways such as being afraid of getting into trouble with her parents or of embarrassing herself in front of her fellow high school students. However, Sadie's anxiety reaches a whole other level when she does a class project on national disasters. After researching the subject in-depth, she comes to the conclusion that the apocalypse is approaching.
In order to survive the impending destruction of human civilisation, Sadie has turned her bedroom into a bunker which is equipped with practically every piece of survivalist paraphernalia in existence. With only a month to go, she has written a list of things that she would like to accomplish before the apocalypse. She distinguishes it from a bucket list in that a list of things that she wants to do before everyone else dies. What a cheery thought. Her goals range from learning how to knit and cook to increase her chances of survival to things that previously terrified her such as skipping a class and getting detention to more personal things such as attending a high school party, kissing a boy and, most importantly, getting her best friend Brennan back. While the earlier entries on the list do not prove much of a challenge, the same cannot be said for the later ones.
Sadie and the considerably more adventurous Brennan, played very well by Clark Backo, thought that they would always be BFFs. However, the two of them drifted apart when Sadie's obsession with the end of the world began to overshadow everything else in her life. This is the perfect illustration of Sadie's description of anxiety as "a vicious, festering cycle" since it caused her to inadvertently push away one of the most important people in her life. The situation also wasn't helped when Brennan became a part of the popular clique at school.
Sadie gains an ally when she befriends the popular and outgoing Jack Diaz, played in an excellent performance by Ricardo Hoyos, who agrees to help her to get Brennan back on her side. While it appears that Jack has it all, he likewise suffers from anxiety, albeit a far less severe form. His father places a great deal of pressure on him to succeed in every aspect of his life. Nevertheless, Jack differs from Sadie as he finds the idea of the apocalypse oddly liberating as it means that he does not have to worry about anything else. Over the course of several weeks, Sadie and Jack become closer and closer to the point where it begins to threaten Sadie's chance of restoring her friendship with Brennan.
Before Jack's overture of friendship, the closest thing that Sadie had to a friend her own age was Teddy, played well by Munro Chambers, whose main passion in life is the Mod scene of 1960s England. Although he is an outcast himself in that he has no friends at school, Teddy frequently throws killer parties which are well attended by his classmates. I was initially worried that Teddy was a bit of a stereotype but my concerns were in vain as it was eventually revealed that there was another side to him, one which I did not expect.
Sadie is also good friends with her teacher Connie Nichol, played very well by Seater's production partner Paula Brancati. Given that she arguably has more problems than Sadie, she is perhaps not ideal mentor material. However, she is a kind, caring woman who is very fond of Sadie and tells her that she is much stronger than she thinks. Connie is another character who suffers badly from anxiety, particularly over her recent breakup with her fiancé Calvin, played by Seater in a brief cameo. In many respects, she is the woman that Sadie will become if she does not overcome her anxiety.
The film also features strong appearances from Peter Keleghan and Hélène Joy as Sadie's relatively well-meaning but gormless parents Roger and Hope, George Stroumboulopoulos as Sadie's fellow survivalist Gord and John Ralston as the time travel enthusiast Burt.
Overall, this is a superb film which manages to be both funny and thought-provoking. I have been a fan of Seater since he starred in "The Zack Files" in the early 2000s. After watching his debut film "People Hold On", I was convinced that he had a very bright future ahead of him as a writer-director. After watching this film, I am even more convinced of it.
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