The Go-Getters
(Canada, 84 min.)
Dir. Jeremy LaLonde, Writ. Aaron Abrams, Brendan Gall
Starring: Aaron Abrams, Tommie-Amber Pirie, Kristian Bruun,
James Cade, Christine Horne
 |
| Tommie-Amber Pirie and Aaron Abrams star in The Go-Getters |
People say Canadians are nice, but I say fuck that nonsense.
We’re not “nice.” We’re just nicer than people from the USA
are, and they aren’t very nice to begin with. Like, really—have you ever been
to Toronto? It’s colder than an outhouse in Whitehorse!
By no means is The
Go-Getters the most likable Canadian film of 2018, either, but that’s the
point. The film features two true anti-heroes in drunken asshole Owen (Aaron
Abrams, Closet Monster) and junkie
hooker Lacie (Tommie-Amber Pirie, Don’t Get Killed in Alaska) who team up once their antics of getting wasted and
causing a ruckus in a shitty dive bar run by Owen’s brother Kevin (Kristian
Bruun) get them kicked to the curb. They decide to skip down by hitching a ride
on the Greyhound to Brockville—Kingston’s rival for the title of “Ontario’s
armpit”—but they need 98 bucks to cover the tickets.
Sure, Lacie could theoretically raise the money through blowjobs
but she’s a terrible hooker and Owen isn’t much use for anything. The dirty
rotten scoundrels decide to cheat and steal their way to their goal, amassing
Toonies, Loonies, and Wilfrid Lauriers along the way. Nobody is safe from these
hustlers as they rob from the poor, crippled, and vulnerable. Shit hits the fan
as Lacie’s ex-pimp, Cerebral Paulie (James Cade), wants in on the action, and
just when it seems that The Go-Getters can’t
possibly up the ante, it does.
Pretty much everyone is up for grabs as Owen and Lacie rain
more shit on Toronto than Doug Ford after a bad bowl of chili. Abrams and Pirie
are a fun tag team as Owen and Lacie dive head first into the mud and roll
around in it. They’re wild and unhinged, playing off one another’s manic energy,
inspiring the other to let go of their inhibitions further and further. The
film demands the actors to basically play the “Penis Game” and up the stakes
with each scene. The Go-Getters is
the raunchy adventure that Movie 43 tried
to be and utterly, spectacularly failed to be. A comedy can be vulgar *and*
funny with the right talents.
The fearlessly funny script by Aaron Abrams and Brendan Gall turns milquetoast Canada on its head and finds the humour in the black-hearted reality of our self-centred buck-a-beer culture. Aided by an ace supporting cast that includes Christine Horne as Chablis, the Roller-Girl of Sherbourne St, Tony Nappo as a barfly with a potpourri of fetishes, and Ennis Esmer as a lone beacon of kindness and sanity, everyone seems to be having a good time letting it all hang out. The Go-Getters is dirty, crass, vulgar, depraved, mean-spirited, black-hearted, foul-mouthed, offensive, politically incorrect, trashy, and whacked-out hilarious.
The fearlessly funny script by Aaron Abrams and Brendan Gall turns milquetoast Canada on its head and finds the humour in the black-hearted reality of our self-centred buck-a-beer culture. Aided by an ace supporting cast that includes Christine Horne as Chablis, the Roller-Girl of Sherbourne St, Tony Nappo as a barfly with a potpourri of fetishes, and Ennis Esmer as a lone beacon of kindness and sanity, everyone seems to be having a good time letting it all hang out. The Go-Getters is dirty, crass, vulgar, depraved, mean-spirited, black-hearted, foul-mouthed, offensive, politically incorrect, trashy, and whacked-out hilarious.
