All Is Bright

Director Phil Morrison's strangely dark comedy opens during late November in wintry Quebec, when Dennis Girard (Paul Giamatti) is released after spending four years in prison for robbery. Trudging home, he discovers that his ex-wife, Therese (Amy Landecker), has banned him from the house because she's told their young daughter Michi that he died of cancer. Therese has taken up with Dennis's amiable ex-partner/buddy Rene (Paul Rudd), who's divorcing his wife to marry Therese. Frantic and penniless Dennis guilt-trips Rene into allowing him to team up to sell Christmas trees at huge mark-up in Brooklyn, despite a parole officer's admonition not to leave Canada. Former thieves—for whom lying, cheating, and stealing is a way of life—the pair are determined to go straight. Taking time out from persistent arguments about which of the men really deserves Therese, the morose and misanthropic Dennis befriends Olga (Sally Hawkins), a quirky Russian dentist assistant who is housesitting at her employer's brownstone. Although plagued with arthritis, Olga is an accomplished pianist, which is convenient since Dennis is determined to acquire a piano for Michi. Syrupy, predictable, and contrived, All Is Bright clearly evokes the desperation of hard economic times—particularly poignant around the holiday season—but this is a wistful, joyless, and ultimately forgettable Christmas story. Optional. (S. Granger)