Bad brew

>> Café Olé is a pretty sour romance

by MATTHEW HAYS

It would be difficult to pinpoint precisely where a film like Café Olé goes wrong, seeing as there is so little about it that's good. The main offence, upon close examination, however, appears to be Emil Sher's meandering, entirely unfocussed screenplay.

The film's title comes from the central hangout of the protagonist. Andrew Tarbet (who, it must be noted, is doing his very best here) plays a lonely Montrealer who loves the city but finds his heart yearning for romance. Various characters surround him, including his brother (Harry Standjofski) and pregnant sister-in-law (Macha Grenon, who will undoubtedly wish she skipped this project and simply made more Pharmaprix ads), and a neighbour (Stephanie Morgenstern) who's being abused by her husband.

Soon enough, Tarbet has fallen for a Chilean lass (Laia Marull). The two have the hots for each other and end up in the sack. Playing the exotic lady friend, Marull is everything Tarbet has every wanted in a gal, he decides. But wait! In a murky turn that's never fully explained, we learn that Canadian immigration authorities want to nab her, as she's in the country illegally. Such is the quandary of a love-sick Montrealer, and Tarbet does his best at trying to solve his relationship dilemma.

Sher and director Richard Roy appear to have been trying to turn Montreal into a Woody-Allenesque New York, with various intriguing characters populating an ensemble-driven screenplay. A few trysts, a lotta laughs, some endearing characters. Which is all very well, except for the fact that virtually none of Café Olé actually works. Seeing as the filmmakers don't have much of a feel for who these characters actually are, it's difficult for the audience to care either. Tarbet seems like a pleasant enough fellow, but when his heart is breaking, my heart registered nothing in empathy. Even Morgenstern, such a talented force and so solid in films like Forbidden Love, The Sweet Hereafter and Maelstrom, is handed a part so empty even she can't quite breath life into it. (She plays a tragic battered wife who, in a drunken stupor, makes a pass at Tarbet.)

It is often we Canuck film critics are accused of being too easy on local films. The pom poms had to be moth-balled for this one. I could not recommend this film in good conscience.

Café Olé opens Friday, June 1