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Celebrating Canadian content at the Candys

> The winners of the 2017 Canadian Screen Awards

Jerrison Oracion
Senior Columnist

 

he best of Canadian film, TV, and

digital content were celebrated at
the Canadian Screen Awards this year.
Howie Mandel hosted this year’s awards
show and he had a lot of surprises during
the ceremony. He talked about what
the Canadian Screen Awards should be
called: Last year’s host, Norm Macdonald,
thought that it should be called the
Candys, and Mandel said he thought
that it should be called the STD. He then
referenced that when he talked to some
of the people in the audience, and he
also talked about the rivalry between
Kim’s Convenience and Schitt’s Creek.

In film, It’s Only the End of the World
got Best Film and the most Candys out of
any movie, with six wins. It is interesting
that the film that got Best Film is a French
film directed by a Canadian, since Best
Film usually goes to a film from Quebec,
or a co-production. No one who acted
in the film attended the awards, and
the only person who accepted them
was one of the producers of the film.

Tatiana Maslany got two
Candys, including Best Actress for
The Other Half and Best Actress

ina Drama for Orphan Black.

In TV, there were a lot of surprises
in these categories. For Drama, Orphan
Black got Best Drama, and overall
it won the most Candys, with nine
awards. The show will end this season
in June and if you watch the show, you
are probably excited to see how it will
end. Also, Murdoch Mysteries got four
Candys, including the Golden Screen
Award for TV, which is given to the
show that has the most viewers.

In Comedy, Letterkenny received
Best Comedy, being the first show from
a streaming service to get the award. |
though they would have given it to Kim’s
Convenience, which is a great show. |
will have to get CraveTV and watch
Letterkenny to find out why it won.
Kim’s Convenience got the most comedy
Candys with four, including Best Actor
in a Comedy for Paul Sun-Hyung Lee,
and Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy
for Andrew Phung, who plays Jung’s
roommate and co-worker, Kimchee.

For News, The National and CTV
National News both won, in a way. The
National got Best Newscast and Best Host
of a News Program for Wendy Mesley,
and CTV National News got Best Host of
a National Newscast for Lisa LaFlamme.

In local news, Global News BC got
Best Local Reportage for their coverage
of the recovery of a missing plane.

The Fan Choice Award went to
Natasha Negovanlis, who beat two
Murdoch Mysteries actors, Yannick
Bisson and Héleéne Joy. Negovanlis acts
in a show on YouTube called Carmilla,
which is about a vampire who likes
women, and many people say that
it is the best web show on YouTube.
Personally, I voted for Paul Sun-Hyung
Lee from Kim’s Convenience, who is
very funny in the show, and I also
voted for Letterkenny’s Jared Kheso.

  

There were a few other notable
achievement awards. Christopher
Plummer got a lifetime achievement
award, and the Just for Laughs
Festival got the Icon Award for
their contributions to comedy.

After watching the Canadian
Screen Awards, you probably want
to watch Canadian content. If you'd
like to see a Canadian film, I would
recommend watching Weirdos, and if
you'd like to watch Canadian TV, there
are a lot of shows to watch, including
the aforementioned Kim’s Convenience,
Murdoch Mysteries, and Letterkenny.

Too long, too crowded, and too many gags

> A film review of ‘Rat Race’

Jan Prchal
Columnist

 

Fe the opening credit sequence, with
its squeaks, beeps, goofy music, and
gags, the comedic level of Rat Race (2001)
is firmly established. The overwhelming
majority of its humour is gag-based,
slapstick comedy, and it can therefore
only be recommended for those with low
expectations and unintelligent humour.

The premise of the film is that
six teams of people are racing from
Las Vegas to Silver City, New Mexico
to win $2 million in prize money.

The whole race is orchestrated by

a wealthy Las Vegas casino owner
named Donald Sinclair John
Cleese), who is capturing everything
on video for the entertainment of
himself and his wealthy friends.

It stars a mixed bag of some of
Hollywood’s funny faces from the late
1990s and early 2000s, including Whoopi
Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Wayne
Knight, Jon Lovitz, Seth Green, and
Breckin Meyer. British funnymen Cleese
and Rowan Atkinson round out the cast.
Disappointingly, Atkinson’s character,
that of a clueless Italian man, is possibly
one of the weakest in the film. In fact, the
film suffers from its own sheer weight.

It has too many characters, many of
whom have overlapping characteristics.

The large situational build-up comes
with a weak payoff. This is shown in
the travails of the presumably-Jewish
Pear family. Jon Lovitz plays the father,
who is trying to avoid telling his wife
and two children that they are racing
for $2 million. They detour to a Barbie
museum, which turns out to be a
neo-Nazi museum dedicated to Klaus
Barbie. After stealing the museum's
prized souvenir, Adolf Hitler's car,
they accidentally enrage a biker gang
and end up crashing into a WW2
veteran’s memorial. The father, having
burnt his tongue and ended up witha
Hitler moustache from the preceding
escapade, ends up acting out a Hitler
impression in front of the veterans.

As suggested above, the film
is too long. Its constant barrage of
slapstick begins to feel never-ending.
If the film has any takeaways beyond
the silly humour, it is the idea that
people are willing to do anything
for enough money, mirrored in how
Hollywood will throw together almost
anything to try to make some money.

This comedy can only be
recommended to someone who enjoys
lowbrow slapstick humour, including
once-prominent comedians, in
numbers that dilute their individual
talents. It is probably not the type
of comedy you will want to watch
more than once, even if you do.

 

 

 

Photo of Howie Mandel at CSA via news1130.com

Image via Paramount Pictures