Genial, intermittently amusing comedy about curling. I never knew what curling was, and it's sort of an interesting shuffleboard/billiards kind of game and I'm glad to have learned something about it, but outside of that this movie is so slight that in spite of it's easygoing charm I never felt more than a passing interest in the character's lives. Watchable but forgettable.
Men with Brooms
2002
Action / Comedy / Drama / Romance / Sport
Men with Brooms
2002
Action / Comedy / Drama / Romance / Sport
Keywords: sports
Plot summary
Long Bay resident Donald Foley, a life long curler and more recent curling coach, has just passed away. He has requested that his cremated ashes be bored into a specific curling stone he has just had retrieved from the bottom of Long Bay. His will also has a non-binding codicil to reunite the last team he coached to curl in the Golden Broom Bonspiel in town, a Long Bay team which has never won and that team which was the closest ever to doing so. Donald wants that specific stone in which he is buried to be delivered as the final shot to sit on the button for the win for the Long Bay team. Beyond the four team members not having curled at all since their last bonspiel ten years ago, they each have issues in their lives which may make coming together as a team and winning, and curling in its entirety difficult or a non-priority. Lead Neil Bucyk's life is directed by his controlling wife Linda, a right she believes she has as his livelihood is in her family's business, a funeral home. Second Eddie Strombeck and his wife Lilly are trying to conceive, her ovulation cycles which may trump all else in his life especially as they have long tried to have a baby without success (although they are having a good time in the trying). Third James Lennox, who has recently returned to town with Joanne, the latest in a long line of not too bright casual and short term girlfriends, is a drug dealer whose biggest priority may be to evade the thugs to who he owes a lot of money. But the biggest question mark may be skip Chris Cutter, who unilaterally made the decision to break up the team when he left town to work in the Alberta oil patch. He quit curling over guilt in not reporting a burnt rock in that last bonspiel, that rock which he ultimately threw into Long Bay (i.e. the rock in which Donald is now buried). The issue of skill may be somewhat addressed if Chris is willing to reconnect with his father and Donald's friend, Gordon Cutter, with who Chris has been estranged over family issues but who remains the most knowledgeable curler in town. The other part of the skill issue is that the Butte team will be curling in the bonspiel, their entire team, but especially skip Alexander Yount, who are treated like rock stars in the curling world. If Chris remains in town to curl, he also has to address some personal issues, as his departure ten years ago broke up his relationship with Donald's daughter, Julie Foley, that adversity which in part led to she coming out ahead professionally as a member now of the space program. However, Donald's other daughter, single mother physiotherapist and admitted alcoholic Amy Foley, who was Chris' drinking buddy and is everyone's best friend, has always had feelings for Chris herself, something of which Chris and Julie, deep in their hearts, are aware.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Slight comedy
not funny
It's the town of Long Bay in Canada. Amy Foley (Molly Parker) is fishing out a curling stone with her father Donald and he dies of a heart attack. In his will, he command his team to place his ashes in the handle of his stone and win the Golden Broom by placing it on the button. The team's skipper Chris Cutter (Paul Gross) is haunted by an incident of cheating and leaving Julie Foley at the alter. Neil Bucyk, James Lennox, and Eddie Strombeck are the rest of the team each with their own problems. James is a drug dealer going out with clueless Joanne but can't remember her name. Neil is being pushed around by his dominating wife Linda. Eddie is having trouble conceiving with his wife. Chris needs to reconcile with his coach and father Gordon Cutter (Leslie Nielsen).
This is a quirky sports movie. It's useful for the audience to know curling. There is an explanation in the movie but I don't think it's that clear for people new to the game. The movie careens from quaint Canadian small town story to broad gross-out humor. None of it is particularly funny. I wonder if the movie would be better if it picked one side or another. The jokes are not landing.
More Brooms Than Brains.
Men With Brooms (2002): Dir: Paul Gross / Cast: Paul Gross, Leslie Nielsen, Molly Parker, James B. Douglas, Polly Shannon: A film about boldness and guts as an elderly man has a heart attack in a boat while his daughter assists him in landing a curling ball that was in the water for unforeseen time. Ashes are put inside a curling ball with the request that a team get back together. Paul Gross is involved with sisters, one of which is in the American Space Agency. Why Gross (who also directs) felt that this footage was necessary is a mystery but he fails to match his shots. Going from one scene to another totally lacking rhythm with pointless subplots including a man out to collect a debt. Aside from directing, Gross poises as a very unsympathetic hero who brings no emotion or personality to the role. Molly Parker is the love interest struggling with alcohol but Gross handles this loosely. Leslie Nielsen provides a few chuckles as Gross's father but the role is merely an opportunity to bring a name performer into this independent comedy and nothing more. Also featured are a rival team that overact to the max and greatly reduce the sport of curling to a side show. Curling provides an interesting sport since few films are about curling, however the delivery is much like most sports films thus having little surprise and a story that won't likely sweep anyone off their feet. Score: 3 / 10