Waydowntown (2002)

Powerful

One of my all time favorites.

As Good As It Gets

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I've sold many movie tickets to Gary Burns, but had never seen one of his films. Since I finally watched Mike Judge's "Office Space" this morning I figured I should probably watch the other, far lesser-known but very popular (locally, at least) comedy from around the same time centered on the banality of office life, Burns' "Waydowntown". Where Judge focused on easy targets like the annoying office printer and caricatures like office weirdo Milton, Burns is focused on sardonic, surreal comedy, and broadens the scope away from just the banality of office life and onto the suffocating effect of skywalk systems and life inside giant malls are having on our society.Indeed, "Waydowntown" is very clearly a commentary on how the +15 system (the world's most expensive pedestrian skywalk system, stretching over 16km in the downtown core) has affected street life in Calgary, or rather suffocated it. While this all means very little to non-Calgarians, or really to anyone who lives in a city without an extensive skywalk system, the film makes very few specific references to Calgary and most of the comedy is still based in the banal nature of the modern office workplace, so accessibility is not an issue and Burns is not self-indulgent in his commentary on Calgary, with the film still focusing for the most part on plot and humor.As previously mentioned, the humor here is occasionally of a broad slapstick nature (and those jokes, including the replacement of computer mouses with an actual dead mouse generally work), but is mostly of a very dark satirical nature, tapping into the petty grievances and mind games of office culture with real realism, which helps ground the lead character's flights of fancy and superhero obsession in reality and keep the film's more surreal moments from feeling like they belong in another film. The plot, with four office workers participating in a bet to stay indoors, using the +15 system to shop, eat, clothe themselves, and sleep as well as work, for as long as possible is very well-executed. It never overtakes the character moments or the generally mundane, claustrophobic atmosphere as the main focus of the film, but keeps the narrative momentum going throughout. The film has been compared to "Office Space" quite frequently (and no, "Waydowntown" is not even close to being a ripoff, it was written well before "Office Space" was released and was filmed not long after "Office Space" wrapped filming, I believe), but aside from the basic idea of suffocated office employees going a little insane the movies aren't very similar at all, with "Waydowntown" being much darker and more surreal, and far more poignant and clever as well in my estimation.The cast are really terrific and while I initially found Burns' direction and the cinematography to be jarring and a bit annoying, I eventually grew to like the style a lot, which considering it was a digital-to-film transfer at the time (1999 when the film was shot or early 2000), it looks really terrific overall, and while all the jump cuts overdid things a bit the claustrophobic, suffocating air Burns was going for was ultimately accomplished. There are a lot of nice touches in the film, visual commentary on the nature of the characters and their lives, ranging from the extremely obvious (the main character has an ant farm on his desk), to subtler, like the constantly changing attire of most of the characters. It was nice to finally see a Gary Burns film, and while "Waydowntown" is perhaps not absolutely perfect it is a very unique and special workplace comedy, one with a lot of imagination and a lot of great, different humor. For all those whining about Canadian film not being accessible to foreigners, here's one which I can see anybody who has been in this sort of atmosphere understanding and enjoying, even if they don't quite understand the nature of the +15 in Calgary and how one can literally live inside breathing recycled air for their entire lifetime if their apartment is in the downtown core. A great, smart film and one I suspect I will be watching over and over and over.

Much better than expected! I wasn't expecting this movie to be anything special, in fact I really didn't know much about it, other than the fact that it was filmed in my hometown of Calgary. That's really the reason I watched it in the first place, you know...just to see if you recognize anything or anybody. I actually found this movie to be quite entertaining, and was glad to have seen it. It's a unique movie, that has some pretty funny parts in it. There isn't much in the way of scenery, and I'm sure the budget wasn't very big either, but they did well with what they had. This is a movie that I had recommended to others.

From the first few minutes of watching this movie I could tell it was going to be a good one. The narrators humor is dark, pessimistic and completely truthful. The plot itself is seemingly humorous.Four coworkers become involved in a bet to see who can stay inside the longest. But do not be fooled. It's much darker and deeper it sounds. That is only one aspect of it though, it's much darker and deeper than it sounds. This film takes off into a completely unexpected direction right from the get go, serving as a commentary on people and the monotony of office life. It points out that being trapped in an office could make anyone start to question their sanity. This film contains the in your face reality and sharp edge that only an independent film could capture. A good watch that makes you think.

"waydowntown" is one of a zillion or so failed indies which appear to be the product of an overzealous auteur with some kind of cockamamie vision but without the resources or skill to bring it to fruition. So far upstream it could mate with salmon, "waydowntown" is a herky-jerky kaleidoscopic hodgepodge of corporate submanagement stereotypes who are hopelessly trapped by their jobs in a sterile work class structure where no one does anything more than busywork and everyone is involved in some kind of unfunny silliness. The film is technically a mess with shifts in color temperature, lousy editing, awful synth music, etc. In the grand scheme of global cinema, "waydowntown" barely rises above the background noise level. (D+)