Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE STUNT DRIVER [Toronto International Film Festival - Toronto, Ontario]
The aspect of characters in a way lost to themselves but with a mission has had function within director Michael Dowse’s wheelhouse for a while. "Goon", which was written by Jay Baruchel, who reteams with him for "The Stunt Driver" [Special Presentations], had a sense of the underdog with Sean William Scott who, as the charactER, was almost great but never got there. Driver Ken Carter had that idea always trying to pursue the trail of Evel Knievel. Carter concocts a scheme to try to jump the St. Lawrence River at a mile wide using a rocket car. He enlists the help of Dick Heller (played with just enough aloofishness and drive by Ed Helms). Dowse used a doc made about Carter at the time (the doc director was even on stage for the Q&A). In the actual narrative film, there is real footage interspersed with the shot footage. But even the make or break aspect of the jump is made so it is hard to see what is real and what is artificial which was part of the essence of Ken Carter. Baruchel plays him with a tongue-in-cheek quality but with enough insecurity to know that this is his one shot. Lawrence Leboeuf plays his wife Gloria with enough witty intent that you understand that she loves him but there is, at some point, a breaking point.
The build of the launch zone gives one a sense of the issue but also the spectacle this likely caused at the film. Ben Foster in an another sneak play makes an appearance as Evel Knievel under enough prosthetics that you can hardly see him. But he knows enough how to goad Baruchel’s Carter to action or inaction however it may be. Marc Beaupre as Danny LaFortune however almost steals the film at times from Baruchel as his comedic sidekick who eventually gets to step out of the shadow. LaFortune has that "Letterkenny" vibe that gives the film its just off-kilter feel. With Baruchel, one has an idea of a certain amount of snark (though he really disappeared well in "BlackBerry"). Beaupre just lurks on the side of frame with a zinger. Helms is, of all things, the voice of reason playing the straight man. But at one point during a test run, you get a real sense of Carter’s mortality. It is a small thing of how Baruchel plays it in the car but it is really effective especially in the fact that everyone seew it especially his wife but he doesn’t want to acknowledge it (though he knows that everyone can see it). The resolution is true to life to a point but also show the fallibility of public performance versus reality and the fact that chasing the dream and living the dream are two entirely different things. 84%/B
By Tim Wassberg
