Coming-of-age comedy Drinkwater might be one of the most Canadian films of all time [CIFF review]

Stephen Campanelli’s Drinkwater is a coming-of-age story in the classic John Hughes mode, which doesn’t make it any less affecting. The film focuses on Mike Drinkwater (Daniel Doheny, Adventures in Public School), a shy and neurotic teen living in B.C. with his quirky father, John (Eric McCormack, Will & Grace). Embarrassed by the bizarre lengths Hank goes to in order to maintain an ongoing insurance fraud, Mike has little connection to his father and feels aimless. He has a devastating crush on a girl from his school that seems way out of his league, and is essentially coasting through life until he meets Wallace (Louriza Tronco, The Order) a teenager who moves in next door following a family tragedy. 

Mike and Wallace strike up a close and meaningful friendship, which helps each of them get through their own teenage hardships. Along the way, there are the standard teen rom-com tropes including awkward dances, a rivalry with a high school jock (Jordan Burtchett) and painful moments of unrequited love. Through it all, Stephen Campanelli (Indian Horse) often hits on just the right mixture of sentimentality and self-referential humour to keep things fresh. 

Written by Luke Fraser and Edward McDonald, the script has a knowing wink about itself without sacrificing any of its emotional core. Daniel Doheny has a Jay Baruchel-on-caffeine vibe that can come across as a bit over-mannered, but he nails that restless teenage feeling of being trapped in your circumstances and longing for something better. Doheny and Tronco also have a nice easygoing chemistry, and their moments of shyly getting to know each other are some of the strongest and most naturalistic in the film.

Drinkwater might also be one of the most Canadian films of all time, featuring an entire subplot about a Wayne Gretzky rookie card, an extended Tim Horton’s drive-through sequence, and a stacked lineup of classic Canadian rock bangers from the likes of Loverboy and Doug and the Slugs. It may not reinvent the wheel, but there’s a real sweetness at the heart of this movie and just enough meta-commentary on the history of coming-of-age films to let viewers know that the filmmakers are in on the joke too.