All the Wrong Reasons

Solid beginnings for All the Wrong Reasons.

Chummy quotidian banter, an elastic sense of low-budget self-aware elusion, characters who seem relatable but have enough cinematic distance built-in to problematize their realistic preoccupations, polish, tragedy, helplessness, grit.

Facial expressions provoke chuckles.

Background details add flavour.

Surveyed departmental legacies.

Evacuated evasive everyday elevations.

It doesn't hold together well as things become more serious however.

It's not that I didn't like the development of Kate (Karine Vanasse) and Simon's (Kevin Zegers) affections.

They're strong characters and their interactions curve and merge.

But as the intensity of the wry melodrama increases, and morality becomes a potent factor, the comedy disintegrates, and austerity commands.

I liked some of the scenes and the resolutions, but the general air of upright tension in the second half suffered from a lack of contrapuntal displacement.

Unsuccessful juxtaposition.

Solid beginnings though, solid beginnings.