The Right Kind of
Wrong
(Canada, 97 min.)
Dir. Jeremiah Chechik, Writ. Megan Martin
Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Sara Canning, Ryan McPartin,
Kristen Hager, Will Sasso, and Catherine O’Hara.
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| Leo (Ryan Kwanten) and Snow the cat in The Right Kind of Wrong. Photo by: Sabrina Lantos |
“Writing a blog doesn’t make you a writer,” says Leo
Palamino when his ex-wife Julie (Kristen Hager) appears on TV to chat about her
blog with Maria Menounos. Kristen, a grade-A cuss, started a blog called Why You Suck during her marriage with
Leo and shared with the world her feelings over her husband’s failings. Leo has
every right to feel jaded, although his reaction seems more like wounded pride.
Neither Leo nor Kristen, though, can seem to let anything go.
Kristen’s key criticism of Leo is that he refuses to listen
to any criticism someone offers him. This trait led him to become a failed
writer and thirty-year-old dishwasher, which are other flaws the world has
read, although neither trended with the same popularity as the samples of Leo’s
crappy self-guitar solos or the time he shat his pants in Paris. (As someone
who once puked in the Palace of Versailles, I can say that this sort of thing
is embarrassing, but easy to laugh about.) Leo, supposedly unshakeable, absorbs
Kristen’s public shaming like a Marge Simpson-y bathmat. He is defined by her
witty observations, both in the minds of others and in the literate(ish)
voiceover that rambles throughout the film. Everyone Leo encounters in the
picturesque fictional town of Mount Yalo (the film was shot in the Rockies around
Banff and Canmore) seems to have read Why
You Suck. The Right Kind of Wrong,
for all its unflattering portrayal of the writer, admits that bloggers have a
decent reach, which is why one-dimensional caricatures like Kristen are best
left on the cutting room floor.
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| Sara Canning as Collette. Photo by Sabrina Lantos |
Leo is most devastated when he realizes that the newest love
of his life, Collette (an impressive Sara Canning), has already read Kristen’s
web rant. Leo falls in love with Collette when his young friends Ravi (Mateen Devji)
and Pia (Maya Samy) hurl a football at a
wedding party congregating at the church across the street from Leo’s home.
Collette, the bride, punts the pigskin back at Leo and he’s smitten at first
sight.
As the guy from “True Blood” pursues the girl from “The
Vampire Diaries”, The Right Kind of Wrong
puts Leo and Collette in a Barney’s
Version-ish love story in which an underdog chases after a woman he met at
a wedding. (Oddly enough, The Right Kind
of Wrong is the latest venture from Barney’s
Version producer Robert Lantos.) Collette’s husband, Danny (Ryan McPartin),
is all wrong for Collette even though he seems like the perfect man. All Leo’s
faults are public record, though, so Collette has widely different filters with
which to view the men.
Leo Palamino also remains cheery in spite of the blogosphere
backlash messing up his mojo, like his distressed cat Balls, who is left partner-less
when Julie splits with their other cat, Snow, simply to spite Leo. (Another gross
inaccuracy in the portrayal of bloggers in The
Right Kind of Wrong is the film’s obliviousness to the fact that bloggers
love cats.) Grumpy, ugly Balls nearly steals the show, though, as he struggles
with loneliness, arthritis, and medicinal marijuana.
The Right Kind of
Wrong is often endearing as Leo tries his darnedest to sway Collette away
from the character that Julie has created in the public eye. It’s sweet to see
a romantic comedy in which a flawed Romeo has only his virtues to reveal as the
courtship continues. Kwanten is likable as the rugged and boyishly optimistic
Leo Palamino. Leo’s perseverance in spite of the punches thrown by Danny and
his indistinguishable friends (plus Collette’s rebuffs of his affection) is
charming, especially since his attempts to win her affection rewrite the labels
Julie put on him.
Much else in the love story between the spirit animals feels
forced, though, as The Right Kind of
Wrong threads the Rocky Mountain courtship of Leo and Collette in a series
of forced, sitcommy scenarios and a subplot involving a symbolic “ghost bear”
that seems a little too one the nose. The
Right Kind of Wrong also misses the opportunity to do much with the
talented Catherine O’Hara, who gives a fun performance in an underwritten role
as Collette’s mother. Will Sasso, on the other hand, gets some decent
opportunities for laughs with Jennifer Baxter in a subplot involving Leo’s two
married friends who keep the spark of their marriage alive by taking PDA to the
next level. More notable, however, is the onscreen diversity of this production,
which offers a far more inclusive, representative, and colourful cast than some
recent Hollywood productions. Devji and Samy are especially fun as the children
of Leo’s colleague, played by Raoul Bhaneja.
The Right Kind of
Wrong doesn’t always work, but it’s a forgivable kind of wrong as Jeremiah
Chechik (Benny and Joon, Christmas Vacation) brings this adaption
of Tim Sandlin’s novel Sex & Sunsets to
the screen. The Right Kind of Wrong provides
some sweet rom-com escapism in spite of its unevenness and anti-blogger venom.
The production affords some heartwarming slips into landscape porn as the
camera takes in the beautiful and romantic setting. Shot by Take This Waltz DP Luc Montpellier, The Right Kind of Wrong offers another
fun-in-the-sun Can Con rom-com for audiences. The sex isn’t great, but the
sunsets are truly gorgeous. Even bloggers like to get out and enjoy the view!
Rating: ★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
The Right Kind of Wrong is currently playing in theatres.
