It's funny, has something to say and moves along faster than many other films in the genre.
Waydowntown (2002)
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Reviews Counted:33
Fresh:23
Rotten:10
Average Rating:6.4/10
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, drug use and some sexuality
Runtime: 83 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Jan 25, 2002 Limited
Synopsis: Tom, Sandra, Randy and Curt have all staked a month's salary on a bet to see who can stay indoors the longest. It helps that they live and work in a city's downtown where virtually all of the... Tom, Sandra, Randy and Curt have all staked a month's salary on a bet to see who can stay indoors the longest. It helps that they live and work in a city's downtown where virtually all of the buildings are connected by a maze of glassed-in bridges. Why, with all of the office towers, shopping malls and apartment buildings joined, they could stay inside until they retire! If it wasn't driving them all slightly crazy. Tom and Randy came up with the idea of the bet. Sandra joined to show she was a team player and Curt...well, there's just something wrong with Curt. Tom (Fabrizio Filippo) is not sure how much longer he can last in the bet or in his job. The occasional toke helps take the edge off, but the office environment is suffocating. It doesn't help that sitting in the cubicle next to him is the office drone Brad (Don McKellar), a 20 year veteran of the firm, who seems to spend a lot of time playing a computer game. And what's with the bottle of marbles? Sandra (Marya Delver) is the enthusiastic team player. She joined the bet to show her support, but since Tom planted the idea of the stale, recycled, downtown air in her head, she's one long anxiety attack waiting to happen. Sent to tail her elderly boss to stop him from shoplifting over the lunch hour, she is tortured by the thought of fresh air just on the other side of the glass. Curt (Gordon Currie) is the playboy go-getter...the long-engaged playboy whose fiancée won't "give him any juice" until they're married. He usually makes up for it by getting a little something outside, but being inside for 24 days has definitely cramped his style. He's certain his only impediment to winning the bet is the lack of sex. When Tom suggests Curt hit on their vulnerable co-worker, Vicki (Jennifer Clement) Curt jumps into action. Randy (Tobias Godson) is getting a little edgy. He can't remember conversations and is becoming irritable with his friends. One of those friends, Phil the Security Guard, (James McBurney) keeps finishing Randy's sentences for him. It's driving him nuts, but Phil might be the only solution to the prospect of Randy losing the bet. Oh, and Randy forgot to tell Tom and Sandra that Curt made it through a similar bet at University that lasted for a full year! Things definitely get strange as the lunch hour draws to a close. Tom has a tryst in a parking garage; Brad is making moves to go out the window; Curt and Vicki are caught checking out the plumbing in the ladies room; Sandra is crawling around on the floor in a department store and Randy has gone out in the trash. For better or worse, by the time the lunch hour is over, the bet is over and everyone's looking at life a little differently. -- © 2001 Lot 47 Films [More]
Starring: Fabrizio Filippo, Gordon Currie, Don McKellar, Marya Delver
Starring: Fabrizio Filippo, Gordon Currie, Don McKellar, Marya Delver, Tammy Isbell, Tobias Godson, Jennifer Clement, James McBurney
Director: Gary Burns
Director: Gary Burns
Screenwriter: Gary Burns, James Martin
Producer: Shirley Vercruysse
Composer: John Abram
Studio: Lot 47 Films
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Reviews for Waydowntown
The film's snags and stumblings are more than compensated for by its wryly subversive tone.
A cogent yet hilarious indictment of our soul-destroying urban existence.
It's Burns' visuals, characters and his punchy dialogue, not his plot, that carry waydowntown.
A smart and creative comedy that skewers cheaply dehumanizing architecture and self-absorbed yuppie mentalities in a series of skillfully assembled scenes.
Often self-consciously surreal, this award-winner scores high for originality.
The observations of this social/economic/urban environment are canny and spiced with irony.
Waydowntown just like most large cities, isn’t somewhere you’ll want to spend the rest of your life, but it sure is a fun place to visit for a while.
The ensemble cast turns in a collectively stellar performance, and the writing is tight and truthful, full of funny situations and honest observations.
The setting turns out to be more interesting than any of the character dramas, which never reach satisfying conclusions.
waydowntown may not be an important movie, or even a good one, but it provides a nice change of mindless pace in collision with the hot Oscar season currently underway.
Waydowntown is by no means a perfect film, but its boasts a huge charm factor and smacks of originality.
Squandering his opportunity to make absurdist observations, Burns gets caught up in the rush of slapstick thoroughfare.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
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| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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