High Life

Dir: Gary Yates (Niagara Motel)
Cast: Timothy Olyphant, Stephen Eric McIntyre, Joe Anderson, Rossif Sutherland
Canada/USA, 2010

Seen: January 19, 2010

Reason to see: It's Canadian co-pro

I'm always up for a heist film, and knowing High Life was that and a Canadian co-pro I was all for seeing it. But I didn't realize it was centred on idea of getting a score to fund the use of drugs. Ah, well... at least I knew I wasn't the target market pretty quickly. But - if you are into crime/comedies with drug humour throughout then this should be right up your alley.

Set in the 80's is a fun place to start, especially when they decide to go early 80's with a bunch of rag-tag petty criminal, some are rocker types which means we get a fun and nostalgic soundtrack. Although I wasn't very interested in the drug aspect of the film, we still get a fair share of choice moments with the partly likely quartet. Rossif Sutherland's performance as the relaxed smooth talker was certainly a highlight. We also get Timothy Olyphant playing Dick, the semi-organized leader of the group who acts as close to a moral centre that the content allows. I'll give it kudos to the fact that I didn't always know where it was going and did keep me intrigued even though I was not the intended audience.

Shannon's Overall View:
I was not the target audience
I'd not likely watch it again
I'd recommend to fans of crime comedies

8 minutes of preshow including 3 commercials and 3 previews: Gunless, Cooking with Stella and J'ai tué ma mère / I Killed My Mother

Return to Film Reviews

© Shannon Ridler, 2010