On the surface, Drinkwater is a contender to be a quintessential Canadian film.
Penticton, BC is the place where the film is set and the film is shot there. A Tim Hortons drive-thru. Bathroom vs. washroom. A Wayne Gretzky rookie card. American and Canadian taunts before a binational cross country race.
Drinkwater has an incredible soundtrack, mostly Canadian bands: Loverboy, Doug and the Slugs, BTO, The Kings, April Wine, Sheriff, and Trooper.
Mike Drinkwater (Daniel Doheny) is our teenage protagonist. Mike is a lonely teenager very much into Bruce Lee films and stalking the ideal girl: Danny (Chloe Babcook). Hank (Eric McCormack) is Mike's father. Mike calls him Hank. Hank wears a neck brace and is scamming the insurance company to get out of work.
Their major outside contact are next-door neighbours Cliff (Vincent Cheng) and Linda (Linda Darlow). Their granddaughter Wallace (Louriza Tronco) transfers from New England to Penticton in British Columbia.
You kind of know the story from other similar films. Our protagonist is the loser. The new girl helps boost his confidence, which he wastes on the unattainable pretty girl who is dating the all-star athlete who has a jerk father.
There are sincerely sad moments. Wallace goes into what happened with her mother to Mike yet the audience had no idea what she was trying to say. That could be her telling a difficult story.
A saving grace is anytime there is an excuse for a song, a great Canadian song (or other song) will play to distract you from the plot.
A running joke is that Wallace is so bored she will even spend time with Mike. While Mike is our hero, he isn't that interesting. The film's take on the "Canadian girlfriend" was the funniest scene in the film.
We get why Danny is alluring but the character looks 26 years old.
Trying to find the quintessential Canadian film
We can't tell if writers Luke Fraser and Edward McDonald and director Stephen Campanelli are presenting this format as irony or sincerity. "If the Americans can make this time of a film, why can't Canadians make this type of film."
The pacing in the first hour — 112 minutes in total — is so slow and inane. Condensing 20 minutes out of the first hour would make this a stronger film.
We loved Doheny in Adventures in Public School and he does his best with the script in this film. McCormack is having a good time in this film. Tronco is trapped in the first half of the film in the mindless sidekick role. When Wallace becomes more interesting, so does the film.
If you enjoy this format and you want to see such a film in Canadian hands, Drinkwater will be a pleasant date night film. The soundtrack is the star of the film.
This review felt like Drinkwater "might also be one of the most Canadian films of all time." Is Drinkwater the quintessential Canadian film? No. If you don't take the film too seriously, you will get plenty of Canadiana.
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Drinkwater (2021) is available on Tubi in the United States.
video credit: LevelFilm
photo credit: Drinkwater
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