Mountain Men (2014)

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Lovely to see Tyler Labine out of his comedy comfort zone and doing good at it to.Lovely to see Tyler Labine out of his comedy comfort zone and doing good at it to.Lovely to see Tyler Labine out of his comedy comfort zone and doing good at it to.Lovely to see Tyler Labine out of his comedy comfort zone and doing good at it to.Lovely to see Tyler Labine out of his comedy comfort zone and doing good at it to.Lovely to see Tyler Labine out of his comedy comfort zone and doing good at it to.Lovely to see Tyler Labine out of his comedy comfort zone and doing good at it to.Lovely to see Tyler Labine out of his comedy comfort zone and doing good at it to.

Bought this on Netflix and pleased we did. Well chosen cast played things naturally which, with the restrained unflashy directing, made great use of the atmosphere and amazing location.Chace Crawford and especially Tyler Lebine do an excellent job of carrying the movie, which is 90% a two hander.It has some laugh out loud moments which I won't spoil and a nice set up and exploration of family tension. Overall a good movie and one I would recommend. It also does the Canadian tourist industry no harm, as we want to visit now!

Mountain Men is a dramedy about two estranged brothers who are seeing each other for the first time in three years. One brother, Cooper (Chace Crawford), lives a high-profile life in New York City, while the other brother, Toph (Tyler Labine), is still in the same small town the two grew up in in Canada. While Toph finds out his girlfriend is pregnant, Cooper is dealing with the aftermath of his breakup of his own relationship. When the two of them become stranded in the mountains after an unfortunate incident involving a fire, they must learn to work through their differences and survive the snowy mountains. What follows is a funny and heartwarming story about coming to terms with life and the secrets that come between families.

It is not usual for a comedy to keep me on the edge of my seat, wondering what disaster will happen next, but that's the exact effect that Mountain Men had on me. Director Cameron Labine's particular execution of the dramedy genre could not have been more entrancing. Combine his creative eye with the impeccable acting of young actors, Tyler Labine and Chace Crawford, playing estranged brothers Toph and Cooper respectively, and you get a next-level survival film that embodies laughter, love, and the pursuit of happiness. The question on the brothers' minds throughout the film is, "What does it mean to be a man?" This dive into the masculine psyche made for a very unique addition to the already manly nature of the "roughing it" outdoors theme. Director Labine did an admirable job of capturing the truthful concept that all humans have internal struggle in the world around them. The journey that Toph and Cooper experience together not only brings them closer as family, but brings each of them closer to their real selves.