Four out of
Five stars
Running time:
90 mins
Weirdsville is an enjoyable screwball crime thriller with a witty script, inventive direction and superb comic performances.
What's it all about?
Set in Weedsville, Ontario, Weirdsville stars Scott Speedman and Wes Bentley as Dexter and Royce, a pair of stoners who agree to sell drugs in order to pay off their debt to their scary dealer (Raoul Bhaneja). However, when Royce's girlfriend Mattie (Taryn Manning) overdoses on the stash, the hapless duo are left with a body to get rid of, as well as a very angry dealer.
Things go from bad to worse when the boys try to ditch the body in an abandoned drive-in and end up interrupting a group of amateur Satanists, mid-sacrifice. Soon they're on the run from dealers, Satanists and angry dwarfs in medieval costume (don't ask) and as if that wasn't enough to deal with, they resort to planning their own robbery in order to pay off their debt.
The Good
Wes Bentley and Scott Speedman make a surprisingly good comic duo, sparking off each other well and managing to keep their characters likeable, despite the fact that they're basically a couple of lowlife losers. There's also strong support from Taryn Manning (typecast yet again as a white trash slapper) and from Greg Bryk as Abel, the lead Satanist, who gets several of the best lines (
You are not worthy to utter his name, but yes, we do bask in the light of the Dark Lord.).
The Great
Allan Moyle's (Pump Up The Volume, Empire Records) inventive, colourful direction maintains an energetic pace throughout, while Willem Wennekers' script crackles with great lines and delights in subverting the usual crime movie cliches. Basically, this is the film that last year's The Big Nowhere was trying to be, so if you liked that, then Weirdsville has your name written all over it.
Worth seeing?
In short, Weirdsville is an enjoyable, blackly comic crime thriller that is likely to become something of a cult hit when it hits DVD. Great soundtrack too. Recommended.