Ryan McNeil
Yesterday I wrote about not believing the hype. This afternoon, my theme could be don’t believe the trash. Of all the movies I picked to see, two of them snagged bad press before the festival started: I ended up loving them both. Then there was the flick I chose for today – COOPER’S CAMERA – that a blogger I read hated so much they walked out of the premiere earlier this week. So this afternoon I scaled the heights of Mount AMC expecting a rough hour and a half. Imagine my delighted surprise when the movie didn’t suck!
COOPER’S CAMERA is set entirely on Christmas Day 1985. Gord Cooper (Jason Jones from The Daily Show) has bought the family a VHS camcorder as a Christmas gift, much to the chagrin of his wife Nancy (Samantha Bee, also from The Daily Show). Nonetheless, it gets put to good use on this yuletide occasion to capture some head-shakingly inappropriate family moments. The whole movie stems from the footage recorded on that cringe-inducing day. Sorta like THE BLAIR WITH PROJECT with red reindeer sweaters.
It’s bad enough that The Coopers and their extended relatives aren’t exactly the classiest brood. Mix in a shot or six of festive drinking, and the bad behaviour reaches new heights. making the whole day so much more painful is the fact that Gord’s more successful brother Tim, who he hasn’t spoken to in fifteen years, is joining the festivities.
COOPER’S CAMERA actually works quite well since it lives in the sweet spot where reality TV, documentary film making, and home video all overlap. The humour is often crude, and takes a lot of shots at the way holidays and alcohol can turn seemingly normal suburbanites into blithering idiots. It’s a scary look back at life in the 80’s – I caught more than my share of winks and nods – and might well feel familiar to more than a few people out there!
COOPER’S CAMERA plays once more at TIFF 08, and does not yet have wide release information. See it if you can, then call your parents and tell them you love them.
Hey Ryan…First things first – it was great meeting you Monday night at the meet up. I like how everyone was so passionate about what they’ve seen at the festival (and film in general). I’ve been catching up on your fest coverage – great stuff.
I’m glad to read your review of Cooper’s Camera. I’m seeing that Friday night. When I first picked it as a possibility I didn’t even know that Jason Jones and Samantha Bee were in it, so I’ve been anticipating it as a really fun comedy. I too was worried about some of the reviews I read, especially when they emphasized the crude humour. I don’t mind crude, but too much of it just for the sake of being crude can get boring. The director Warren Sonoda was gracious enough to post a comment on my blog (when I listed it as an early pick) so I really want to like this film! B-)
Howdy Bob – It was great meeting you as well, and thanks for throwing a link to my writing on your page! I’ll do the same for you once this week is over.
Yeah, there’s a moment or two of crude humour in Cooper’s, but it isn’t- as you put it -crude for the sake of crude. It all works within the stoy they’re trying to tell. The crude humour in some of Will Ferrel’s recent movies have bothered me more.
Let me know what you think after you see it, and fyi – you get a short comedy before it called THE CATSITTER, which will give you a few more laughs for your TIFF dollar.