A Legacy of Whining

Two old college friends who haven’t communicated in 30 years have an awkward reunion in actor-writer-director Ross Munro’s loopy but stinging Canadian satire about male arrested development. Munro plays Mitch, a feckless 50-year-old nebbish still trying to find his place and passion in the world, and living under the delusion that his school years represented a more glorious version of himself. It’s no wonder that he’s eager to reunite with long-ago friend Dunc (Robert David Duncan)—despite decades of silence between them—as if reliving their school days will help fill his midlife irrelevancy. For his part, Dunc is also an overgrown kid, divorced and lecherous, but still capable of rebuking Mitch for the latter’s eternal search for purpose. The synergy between them creates a number of funny-sad scenes, but the film—which is somewhat hampered by amateurish production issues—is often punctuated by a sly absurdity that pointedly underscores Mitch’s haplessness, such as his encounter with a wheelchair-bound prostitute and a glamorous chauffeur. Although a little rough around the edges, Munro’s take on male infantilism is spot on. Recommended. (T. Keogh)