Men With Brooms

I almost passed this movie by without watching it. After all, it is about curling! Curling is about ice, blocks of polished granite, and brooms. It isn't supposed to make any sense at all. Ahh, but this movie proves it does.If anybody could possibly explain curling to those of us raised well away from its frozen origins, this movie comes pretty close. It also provides a view to the wonderfully skewed world of Canadian self-effacing humor. (No, self-effacing isn't the right word, and a trip to the Thesaurus did not help. Just remember while watching, it is funny!) Curling is a sport and a cultural phenomenon. Like Ice Hockey, it helps if your brain is thoroughly chilled by months of grey skies, ice, and snow and also warmed with doses of real alcohol. It may also help if you have just a bit of Scottish blood coursing through your veins.By the end of the movie, I was actually lulled into thinking there is sanity in this sport. What?!! What is so funny about exploding 42-pound hunks of polished granite? I am not smart enough to know, but it is funny! And what is so funny about storing these marvelous chunks of stone at the bottom of a very cold lake?Humans are amazing!If you think this review is senseless, watch the movie. At least you will laugh hard at the complete senselessness.Now if someone could make a movie that explains the Texas Aggies or the Georgia Bulldogs to those of us who deal with them daily, but without the benefit of having attended their august alma mater...

I recently rediscovered Canadian actor Paul Gross, 20 years after his Due South program aired on CBS in the US. Decided to try out some of his other films, and I was stunned at the level of crass, bawdy vulgarity in Men With Brooms.That said, this is an INCREDIBLY funny movie, but certainly nothing to pop in for family movie night. I'm in my 60s, have been around the block a time or two, and it's not often that anyone in the film industry can make me blush, but this movie surely did! Beyond that, though, this well-crafted comic story is one of discovery, victory, and redemption -- themes commonly found in Gross's high-quality stories of life, death, and love.A curling coach dies, and his long-gone, generally nutty players return to town for his funeral after a 10-year separation. They then team up to compete once again for the Golden Broom trophy. Each player has a story, as does each of the women in their lives, and as the plot develops we have the chance to know and love them all.Curling is a sport that requires tremendous fitness, skill, and timing. I know the camera can make those shots look fabulous, but cannot believe all the action is the work of only the cameraman and the film editors. How in the world did they assemble a cast of actors who could pull it off? Did they all take curling in high school P.E., or were they trained in pre-production? Speaking of actors -- everyone in this production is simply first-rate.The big surprise is James Allodi, someone I'd only seen briefly in small roles, but he played his part, an unhappily married funeral director and "lead stone," to perfection.

I went to see this movie at the theater because I am a Paul Gross (the mountie in Due South) fan. I knew almost nothing about the sport of curling and still I loved this movie. It's funny, it's romantic; it's got action and angst and humor and a great story.Gross plays Chris Cutter, a guy who returns home 10 years after he walked out on his fellow curling teammates during a championship. He comes back for the coach's funeral. When the will is read, the coach asks the teammates to get together again and go for the golden broom (the most pretigious curling trophy in Canada).They all hem and haw, but decide to try. Their first match, against a group of octogenerians, is a disaster. So it's off to train in a hilarious sequence of events.Along the way, there is lots of angst between Paul and his former fiance (Michelle Nolden), whom he never said good-bye to when he left. There is also the fiance's baby sister (wonderfully portrayed by Molly Parker) who has always had a thing for Paul and still does. More angst. Yum.Paul's teammates are quite a group. Peter Outerbridge is charming and funny as the gang's womanizer who can't remember the names of women he sleeps with. Jed Rees is adorable as a loving, but frustratingly infertile husband. James Allodi is the down on his luck guy who must choose between curling and his wife, who aspires to high society. A wonderful group of people, who we come to care for.Paul Gross wrote the screenplay and directed it. He does a great job. Buy it! You won't be sorry.

I loved this sweet and funny romantic comedy. Both a buddy movie and a romance, it tells the story of four Canadian hometown friends who belonged to a curling team that broke up 10 years ago. Now their coach has died and his last wish was that they reunite and compete for a championship. Each of the four guys brings their life issues with them, including work issues, marriage or family issues, and romantic entanglements. The lead character is Chris, played by one of my favorite actors, Paul Gross, who also directed and co-wrote the movie, as well as recording a song for the soundtrack. Chris was engaged to be married when he left town and my favorite part of the movie is the sweet romance between him and a local girl. It turns out Chris was engaged to the wrong girl and I love how in the course of the movie he realizes who the right girl is for him. Light and funny with a sweet romantic subplot and lovable characters. Also check out the soundtrack – Paul Gross has a beautiful voice and I love his songs.

Popular spectator sports bore me. Why would I want to sit around, watching a bunch of obscenely overpaid muscular guys (often in shorts or very tight trousers) run around after a ball? Ick. MOVIES about popular spectator sports are even worse: self-indulgent, two-hour gooey moments of the writers and directors and actors professing their love for watching a bunch of obscenely overpaid muscular guys (often in shorts or very tight trousers) run around after a ball. Double Ick.No, it's the less-well-publicised niche sports that I find more interesting, and MOVIES about these niche sports are even better, because you get all the rules and most of the subtleties explained to you as they happen in the movie, so you know exactly what's going on and what's at stake. Which is great, especially if you've never actually watched the sport before. You simply can't do the same thing with baseball's Designated Hitter Rule or football's Offside Rule in a film. It's impossible. And boring.I've seen "A League of Their Own," "BASEketball," "Dodgeball," and "Blackball," and I've enjoyed them all. When Amazon recommended "Men with Brooms" after I made several "Due South"-oriented purchases, I went for it. And I love this film. It's got Paul Gross and Leslie Nielsen in it, which is enough for most people. But it's also about a cozy sport passionately enjoyed by real enthusiasts rather than cynical business-sportsmen who would transfer to another team at the drop of an extra million. And the rest of the cast are just as great, many of whom you will have seen in other venues as well. For example, fans of the X-Men (both the Marvel film and the 1990s cartoon) should recognise George "Beast" Buza and his gravelly voice, playing a vicious criminal.It's not roll-around-breathless-on-the floor, guts-leaking-out-of-the-splits-in-your-sides funny, but it IS very amusing, with engaging characters and many feel-good moments. It's almost-believable, yet slightly surreal and a bit corny in places. And the soundtrack is infinitely better than listening to several hundred drunks tunelessly mangling a team song. So given the choice, I'd watch this instead of anything on TV with "World Series" or "World Cup" in the title. And if you're no big fan of sports, either, I think it safe to say that you'd probably enjoy "Men with Brooms," too.

I wasn't sure if this would be any good but I was quite surprised that it was. There are some really funny moments in it and it manages to hold your attention from the start to the end with ease. The story follows a group of friends who reunite and enter the local curling tournament to try and win the Golden Broom as it was the last wish of their deceased coach (whose ashes are placed in one of the curling weights). After a humiliating defeat they realise that they are out of shape and seek the help of a retired curling champion (Leslie Nielsen) to whip them back into shape. All the characters go on their own little emotional journeys throughout the film from love and family to cheating and alcoholism. It arrived within the estimated delivery date. All in all 4/5.

Always liked Paul Gross on Due South, especially the few episodes where he teamed up with Leslie Nielson, so thought this worth a shot. I gather it's even a TV series in Canada now. However, we found it only mildly entertaining, with a not very robust storyline and not nearly as much humour as expected. Probably an "only watch once" kind of movie.

As a Paddy, I came to this not knowing the first thing about Curling as a sport. But Gross' great performance and witty script - with a great supporting cast - and Nielson as his whacked-out-on-magic-mushrooms father equals lots of laughs and more than a few touching moments. Great comedy.

I enjoyed this movie but as I am not a Canadian and do not much about curling it was not as enjoying as other sports related comedies. Still I liked the most part of it and would recommend it for all Paul Gross fans. He is as handsome as when he was Benton in Due South.