There were plenty of reasons not to review Run This Town. Taking a true and interesting Canadian story and using that story as a way to draw attention to an otherwise pointless film is not something to be rewarded.
Getting a chance to see the film for free and knowing people might want to watch this film, we chose to review the film.
Writer/director Ricky Tollman's major sin was taking away Robyn Doolittle from the story. What we didn't realise was the loss of journalism competence. Tollman's protagonist Bram Shriver (American actor Ben Platt) is the classic millennial stereotype of thinking he is better than he is.
Shriver is a particularly unappealing character; hard to tell if Platt is that good of an actor to portray someone no one would like or whether he isn't that good of an actor.
Tollman deals in these millennial themes: taking poor job situations because of large student debt (not as much of a factor in Canada). Ashley Pollock (Nina Dobrev) feels compelled to take this low-level job at the Toronto mayor office with a law degree. Pollock explains to her boyfriend Kamal Arafa (Mena Massoud) that people act like a law degree is like a fast pass at Disney but that doesn't get her into Universal. If you could figure out Tollman's point, you were way ahead of your humble narrator. There are several moments where the script is heavy-handed at how bad the world is for millennials without an ounce of subtlety.
The impression from the Daily Show interview in March was that Dobrev's character endured a litany of harassment over time. Tollman shows us one moment with about a dozen witnesses. Pretty easy to prove.
Tollman takes some deserved shots about journalism through Shriver's bosses (Scott Speedman and Jennifer Ehle) but most of Tollman's shots makes these actual journalists say things that even the most cynical journalists would not say. May not tell you if what plumbers are saying is authentic but do have a good sense of what journalists say.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah had a Canadian talking about a Canadian film
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Rob Ford (British actor Damian Lewis) comes across as an animatronic robotic presence. The face looks more like Max Headroom with the cheeks of a normal person instead of someone the size of Ford. Whatever we might have thought about the late mayor, he was a human being. Not so much in this film.
Tollman also takes us into bizarro land putting Pollock as the woman who Ford allegedly said he wanted to eat her pussy. The issue is that Ford doesn't say that about Pollock in the film. You can't slander the dead but Tollman's abuses as writer and director make Ford more sympathetic.
A lot of problems with Tollman's script would have been solved by telling Doolittle's actual story. Professional journalists, such as Doolittle, have an interesting story. The truth gets in the way of Tollman's diatribe.
Massoud's character would have made a better lead. Kamal thinks he is the mayor's voice, trying to make the mayor better. Given how Ford treated women, Dobrev deserved a lot more screen time. Rebecca Liddiard (Frankie Drake Mysteries) plays one of the few characters who has fun in this film, playing one of Ford's many assistants. Kathryn Greenwood, whom you might know from Whose Line Is It Anyway, plays Shriver's mother to an annoying T. Gil Bellows and Hamza Haq play detectives who end up with the video somehow in another curious rewrite of reality. They do almost nothing but are still more interesting than the lead character.
Run This Town may have a "Rob Ford" character and there was a video but otherwise this is an empty script about how millennials have a rough life. Tollman might want to see Reality Bites to get a sense of young people angst on the big screen. The 1994 film would have to be updated to reflect a world with smartphones. After having seen this film, Tollman would probably ruin Reality Bites if he tried a remake.
Run This Town is available on Hulu in the United States and Crave in Canada.
photo credits: Run This Town film; Run This Town promotional still
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