20140222: Comedy Review--Cottage Country

Cottage Country

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Canadian live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 91 minutes, comedy, action, crime.  Spoken language is English.
2. IMDB: 5.5/10.0 from 1,554 audience ratings. 
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet,' and 20% liked it from 127 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.4/5.0 from 25,627 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Peter Wellington.
6. Starring: Malin Akerman as Cammie Ryan, Tyler Labine as Todd Chipowski, Dan Petronijevic as Salinger Chipowski, Lucy Punch as Masha.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Cammie is pleased to find an engagement ring when going through her boyfriend Todd's things before a special trip.  He gets delayed by his boss putting in a last minute requirement that ruins his Friday.  They leave late for their trip.


2. Todd and Cammie get to the cottage that his parents own.  They think they will be alone, but Todd's brother Salinger shows up with Masha.  Cammie insists that Todd gets Salinger to leave.  While Cammie and Masha are out collecting mushrooms, Salinger will not be convinced with words.  So he and Todd get into a fight that ends with Todd killing Salinger.


3. Cammie and Todd have a rather earnest discussion.  She's 34 and does not want to wait for Todd to get out of jail or wait to find another man suitable to father her children.  So she convinces him to kill Masha, which does not go too smoothly.


4. Todd forgets to tell Cammie about Salinger's plans to invite some people over.  When Cammie and Todd get back from his formal proposal to Cammie on the island that she insisted on, the 'some people' have arrived, and turns out to be a full scale party.


5. Some of the party goers are very interested in where Salinger is.


6. Will Cammie and Todd, with their meager skills at deceit, be able to stay out of jail?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary:  Poor acting and screenplay defeat beautiful lakefront scenery.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Really good in both daylight and in dark scenes.  Beautiful scenery.


2. Sound: 8/10 OK.


3. Acting: 3/10 Malin Akerman and Tyler Labine I did not believe for a second.  Lucy Punch was just irritating.  Dan Petronijevic I could have done without, completely.


4. Screenplay: 3/10 Was this supposed to be funny?  Fail.  Was this supposed to be a a reasonable crime procedural?  Not even close.  Was it an action film?  Well, no.  There is perhaps one fight in the film.  The plus 3 is for the well deserved ending.