Being Canadian (2015) Reviews

• Huge Disappointment. Robert Cohen Phoned It In!

  mr-roboto-kilroy2016-08-18

  Let me first say that I am proud to be Canadian and I believe that am a funny guy who loves comedies and documentaries. I wanted to love this movie! Hell, I would have settled for 'liking' it! But this was a huge let down. The director and writer 'Robert Cohen' seem to phone this one in. I read his IMDb bio and he seems to have co-written a few episodes of TV shows that I like. So I believed that this movie would be informality funny! It was NOT! Robert Cohen seems to love hearing himself talk and seems to think that he is pretty funny, but is not. At least not in this movie. It did have a lot of interviews with famous Canadians, but each being brief and non-memorable. Sure parts of the interviews made me chuckle a little, but I'm not even sure if most of them were with the director. I believe he just salvaged them from the archives. Robert Cohen (director and writer) narrates through the entire movie with his droning on and on. It's like he was trying to be a funny Michael Moore, but failed miserably. There was very little actual content in this movie. I didn't learn anything new, didn't really laugh, and found myself wanting to turn it off, but stuck with it to be loyal and was hoping it would get better. Sadly it never did. I'm guessing the only reason why this movie became a reality is that it was funded partially or in full by the government or was given huge tax breaks because we require legally to produce and air a certain percentage of Canadian content. There are other movies and documentaries about Canada which are funny. This one is not and didn't need to be made. I am actually wanting to apologize to any non-Canadians who were forced to watch this. Robert Cohen reminds me of a high school chemistry teacher who tries to be funny so the kids will think that chemistry is cool and not boring.

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• Disappointing

  matsgary2016-02-07

  I began this movie with high hopes. I mean, with all of those comedians, how could it miss, right? Although it was sometimes moderately funny in a very predictable manner, it really fell short of tapping into what it truly means to be Canadian and what makes Canada so special. I would say that if you are looking for a movie chock full of antiquated stereotypes told from people who do not live in Canada or have not lived in Canada for years, this is the movie for you. Put another way, if the year was 1982, this movie would be perfect. Aside from a few token minorities, this movie is as white as it gets and totally NOT what being Canadian is all about. Where was the depiction of our awesome multicultural, diverse nation? So disappointing.

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• Doc Has Some Humor & Interesting Factoids But Can Get Somewhat Repetitious

  larrys32016-08-15

  Comedy writer Robert Cohen, born in Calgary, Alberta directs this documentary which tries to delve into the Canadian psyche in various ways, including Cohen's perceptions of its love-hate relationship with the United States and the Canadian inferiority complex and apparent self-deprecation. Cohen will try and put a humorous spin on those issues, as well as a number of others, as he travels by minivan across Canada, beginning in Nova Scotia and ending in Vancouver, British Columbia for Canada Day, some 9 days later. Along the way they'll be some interviews with various citizens in different milieus, as well as the perspectives of many famous Canadians, many of whom are household names. As Cohen will come to learn, his original premise may have been rather faulty, and I can say that as an American, who's traveled to Canada a number of times, I've admired the Canadian lifestyle, and could easily see myself living there if circumstances warranted. Note: there were no subtitles on my DVD copy and the sound quality could have been better. Overall, I thought this film can be humorous and filled with interesting factoids about Canada.However, it can become repetitious, at times, perhaps with trying too hard to prove the premises of the filmmaker.

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• Okayish. Disappointing

  MovieSoup2017-10-04

  "Being Canadian" is an okayish documentary but that is how far my praise goes. It is just okayish. Mildly entertaining, at times, and certainly not funny in the slightest. Now before I start I am English so I won't be approaching this from a Canadian perspective as I am an outsider. I do love visiting Canada though which is the main reason I watched this. I have visited the great white north and it is a great place to go look around. Saying that, this documentary does miss a few provinces on its trip around Canada and it seems stupid to me that it misses the Yukon Territory, which is a stunning wilderness, and Prince Edward Island which is a gorgeous place. The journey they take in this film is so rushed that it doesn't feel complete and I can't help but think if they allowed more time to explore properly they would have made a better film. The general question Robert Cohen asks is "what is it that makes Canada and its citizens great?" This is a pretty ambiguous question and one that is answered very poorly by Cohen. He comes to a pretty weak conclusion and to get there just simply mentions clichés about Canada and poses them to famous Canadians. While it is quant to go "holy sh*t Mike Myers is Canadian!!" the amusement wears off very quickly and you start to think what the actual point of him being there is. Most of the famous Canadians don't really shed any light on national history, they just cop out going for the boring questions that people think of to ask a Canadian. Cohen does ask the help of some Canadian history experts but they have about 3 minutes of screen time….that's it! I would have preferred a bit more about Canadian history, as an outsider looking in. The only thing that is really said is that "it is not taught in American schools" which is a bit of a stupid thing to say really. In English schools we aren't taught about Scottish history or Irish history. Just because two countries are attached doesn't give an obligation to teach each other's history. The comedy in this falls so flat at times that it is actually destroying the tone of the documentary. I do understand that some documentaries can be funny as well as educational but in this film it just fails so hard it makes the people look dumb when they say something profound about Canada. For instance there is this stupid bit where Cohen is interviewing Dave Foley in bed with both of them half naked FOR NO REASON!??! It is such a crap joke and has no real context in anything. I wish they had done better with this film as there are some things that were interesting and some interesting facts were presented in a fun way which was very entertaining. I did like the way it shouts Canada's achievements and it did, in places, make me think of the important contributions Canada has made to the world. However most of the documentary was taken up with rehashing Canadian clichés and the input from all of the stars left me a bit underwhelmed. This documentary did not feel like a labour of love done by people who really loved the subject they were talking about. It is just a star studded mess. Sorry EH!

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• Could have been so much better

  maccas-563672019-01-21

  I had a love-hate relationship with this documentary, much like I did during the Canadian winters I experienced while living there. As an Australian who lived there for almost 2 years, I often straddled that line between being 'tourist' and 'local' - many of the questions posed in this documentary were things I asked myself and Canadians during my time there! It's basically a bunch of segments (questions) about Canadian culture and its identity, strung over a loose travelogue. Some segments were hilarious and a lot better than others - I was definitely laughing out loud, nodding my head in agreement and generally thought it captured Canadians quite well. But the presenter, Robert Cohen really lacks charisma and comes across super annoying and self-indulgent. Part of me wishes the travelogue aspect of it (cross-Canada road trip) had been more involved. But the other part of me was just grateful for the film to end when stuff begins happening like Cohen driving to his former school to swear at it - what the hell? The highlight was the $18 million maple syrup heist - HELLO MOST CANADIAN CRIME EVER!? As well as the often hilarious insights and anecdotes by the Canadian celebrities and identities. After a while, each province just turned into "I still don't have an answer".. And he just seemed really bummed out at the end of it, before suddenly becoming proud of Canada. Sticking around was worth it for the "hippip hurray" though. If others don't happen to agree with my review, "I'm really sorry, eh" ;)

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