Skating to New York Blu-ray Review

     Actors: Dylan Everett, Connor Jessup, Niamh Wilson, Jason Gedrick, Gage Munroe

Director: Charles Minsky

Format: Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, Dolby, NTSC, THX, Widescreen

Language: English

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: PG-13 

Studio: Well Go USA

Release Date: February 17, 2015

Run Time: 93 minutes

 

        This Canadian coming-of-age adventure film is full of good intentions and rife with errors in filmmaking. The actual shell of the film and its components is actually quite promising, which is why the failed execution is that much more disappointing. There are contrived situations of unbelievable coincidence, dialogue so bad that I can only hope it was mostly improvised, and a narrative structure that sloppily bookends the adventure with a typical sports victory storyline. Not without its moments of accidental charm, Skating to New York still feels like a film with no need for distribution outside of Canada.

 

        After their high school team suffers a devastating loss, five teammates and friends set out on a weekend adventure to forget their worries. On the coldest day of the year, the five friends set out to skate across Lake Ontario to New York. There isn’t much behind this mission other than the much needed boost to their self worth after losing a game, but the contrived narrative makes sure to give them plenty of additional life lessons along the way. They run into a series of obstacles along the way, from a large crack in the lake, an inevitable sequence where one of the gang falls in the icy water, and even an encounter with drug traffickers.

 

        These coincidental events would be much easier to bear if it weren’t for the ever-casual improvised style of the dialogue. Maybe it is a culture difference, but the laid back manner of speech that these boys take on began to remind me of the comical dialects of the Coen brothers’ Fargo. This would be fine is Skating to New York were meant to be humorous, but it takes itself deadly serious at the detriment to the film’s entertainment. This and a weakly developed characters lead to a fairly bland film viewing experience that is not likely to be remembered long after the credits roll.

 

Entertainment Value: 3.5/10

Quality of Filmmaking: 4/10

Historical Significance:  2/10

Special Features: 0/10