>>REVIEW
TRAILER PARK BOYS: THE BIG DIRTY
STARRING John Paul Tremblay, Rob Wells and Mike Smith
DIRECTED BY Mike Clattenburg
Opens Friday, October 6
Check listings
Mike Clattenburg and his band of drunken louts are back and crashing a theatre near you. The Trailer Park Boys make their triumphant return to the big screen for the first time since the original movie (a shoe-string black-and-white feature that spawned the TV series) screened at the Atlantic Film Festival seven years ago.
What a difference seven years can make.
After a botched attempt at robbing an ATM, Ricky and Julian inadvertently find themselves with a car full of cigs being chased by a police chopper, but their getaway is hindered by Ricky’s bladder and, after a confrontation with Peace Officer Gord Downie, the lethargic duo are back enjoying an 18-month jailhouse retreat. So goes the opening sequence of Trailer Park Boys: The Big Dirty – a comedy of errors.
What follows is a neatly packaged abbreviation of a typical Trailer Park season with much higher production values. However, it is not geared so much towards the show’s existing fanbase but intent on appealing to a wider audience (particularly lucrative US cable networks).
I am a man conflicted – as a proud Haligonian with a close degree of separation to many of the cast and crew I want nothing more than to see my hometown pride spread far and wide. However, as a casual fan of the series, I find it disheartening to have to bear witness to its increasing popularity (and therein production values) that detract from its original charm.
A five million-dollar budget -– thanks to the deep pockets of executive producer Ivan Reitman – was the kiss-of-death for the inventive (for its time) mockumentary-style format that serviced the economic needs of the production so well. Long gone are the inventive situations where director Mike Clattenburg and company were forced to rationalize the presence of a small camera crew following their every move – no more blank stares into the camera by unsuspecting characters.
Despite my laments, the trademark debauchery and superbly developed characters are still on display here and Clattenburg is given a wonderful opportunity to showcase the true breadth of his filmmaking talent. His tender re-invention of Kubrick’s classic Milk Bar tracking shot is itself more than worth the price of admission. |
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