by CHRIS BARRY

Given that it’s billed as a dark comedy, it’s not particularly funny, that’s for sure. But Winnipeg director Gary Yates’s Niagara Motel has enough going for it that when its 112 minutes are over, you probably won’t feel like you’ve been cheated out of your time and money—depressed maybe, but not cheated.

Yates (Seven Times Lucky) can, in large part, thank his casting director for allowing this film to shine to the extent it does because, even though the script has more than its fair share of weaknesses, the acting performances are for the most part outstanding. There’s a lot going on in Niagara Motel. With so many characters and storylines, you could easily stop caring about all of them. But again, the ensemble cast does such a bang-up job with the material they’re given that the whole affair somehow manages to work.

The flick revolves around a series of down-and-out characters who find themselves living in a fleabag motel in scenic yet eternally depressing Niagara Falls, Ontario. There’s Loretta (Caroline Dhavernas), a sweet, young thing from Quebec who is pregnant and being pursued romantically by a goofy Mormon (Tom Barnett). She’s also being pursued sexually by Michael (Kevin Pollak), a sleazebag who’s trying to get her into the exciting, lucrative world of porn. Then there’s a perpetually unemployed middle-class, middle-aged dude (Peter Keleghan) and his bitch wife (Wendy Crewson), who is considering going into prostitution in order to pay the couple’s bills. And, of course, no film about down-and-outers would be complete without the requisite junkie couple (Anna Friel and Kristen Holden-Reid).

In this movie, the Niagara Motel junkies have recently gone straight and are in the process of trying unsuccessfully to reclaim their baby from social services. And that’s just scraping the surface—there’s a whole slew of equally depressing motel guests and staff members suffering similar misfortunes to enjoy. Like I say, it’s a lot to take in and a lot of it, truly, isn’t even worth the bother. But between the acting performances, the smart cinematography and the occasional laugh delivered courtesy of the almost always funny Pollak, Niagara Motel manages to rise above its lacklustre script to become a halfway decent picture.

Niagara Motel opens Friday, April 21

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