Starring Paul Gross, Molly Parker, Leslie Nielsen, Peter Outerbridge, James Allodi, Jed Rees, Michelle Nolden, Greg Bryk, Bob Bainborough. Co-written and Directed by Paul Gross. Chris Cutter has arrived home to Long Bay, Ontario for the funeral of his former curling coach. He left town 10 years back to work on the oil rigs, but the real reason was to escape both a curling mishap and his fiancee, the coach's daughter Julie (Nolden). Julie is now an astronaut, and is still angry at Cutter for bailing out, but her younger sister, single mom Amy (Parker) has always carried and still carries a torch for him. The other members of the foursome are also there - local mortician Neil (Allodi), sperm-deficient Eddie (Rees) and rowdy currency trader James (Outerbridge). In the will, the coach asks the four guys to reunite to compete in the local Golden Broom curling tournament and win the trophy for the town. After the boys are beaten by a geriatric squad whose members use walkers on the ice, Cutter summons help from his estranged father (Nielsen). Untertaking rigourous training including running, hanging upside down, balancing beachballs and knocking back a few pints, they enter the tourney and begin against a championship level rink from Butte, Montana led by the intense Alexander Yount (Bryk). After being spanked in the first match, the boys claw their way back into contention and eventually make it to the finals to face Yount's rink one more time. Most Canadians don't attend many Canadian films because they are rarely widely distributed in our own country and they tend to be dark, moody and artistic, not geared to a wide audience. Written, directed, performed and produced completely by Canadians, Men With Brooms is one of the first Canadian movies to be made and heavily promoted to appeal to a wide Canadian audience, and made without regard to the potential larger American one down south. In other words, this is no Porky's-style tax-shelter flick pretending to be located in the U.S. It's Canadian location, filmed around Sudbury, Ontario, is prominently displayed, right down to the maple syrup, police officers saying "eh", slag pouring down from the banks and curling teams arriving in Long Bay from such places as Medicine Hat, Sarnia and Come-By-Chance, Newfoundland. It's pretty gutsy trying to make a comedy out of the sport of curling, even to the point of trying to mythologize it as Canada's national sport, ahead of hockey, lacrosse and bitching about having to pay more taxes than Americans. And curling does take up a good portion of the movie. The film nicely parodies the folksy nature of the game by having the Butte, Montana rink enter with cheerleaders, glitz costumes and smoke machines reminiscent of a WWF wrestling match. One Toronto film writer dubbed it the "Full Mountie" as the Canadian effort to recreate the success of smallish British films such as The Full Monty, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Trainspotting. It's not quite as good as those, but like them Men With Brooms is a solid mix of drama and comedy, with a plenty of heart. There are also plenty of cliches - a hooker with a heart of gold, social-climbing wife who gave her husband the family business and pulls him around by a string. And the amateur team going all the way to the finals and the wholly improbable finish have no connection to reality. But there are a few surprises, including a blossoming lesbian romance. It is all treated in a warm, gentle, sometimes touching way. Sometimes it is a bit too gentle, and some comedy situations could have used a bit more pace and intensity. The humour is not uproarious, and only occasionally low-brow. One plus is the all-Canadian soundtrack including several Tragically Hip numbers, a very good Sarah Harmer tune and the New Pornographer's Mass Romantic. The cast is solid, and a few stand out. Anytime Molly Parker is on screen, good things happen, from her exchange in Alcoholics Anonymous, to her banter with Leslie Nielsen, to her yearning for Cutter. She continues to be one of Canada's best actresses, able to convey emotions and feelings below the surface without having to say a word. Leslie Nielsen also brings needed life any time he appears. He isn't the loony he was in the Naked Gun movie series, but I always had the feeling the hermit ex-curler had a little nuttiness lurking just below the surface. And by far the funniest character is Bob Bainborough's "enthusiastic" curling commentator who can hardly contain his excitement and beer during the championship match. Men With Brooms will not likely be fully understood by those outside of Canada, and the sensibility is small town and not hip (unless you count the Tragically Hip, who make a cameo appearance as the curling team from Kingston), but it contains enough fun to entertain the hoser within you. If you would like to respond, please click the E-Mail Press Here To Go To The Review List Page