I appear on “CTV News at 11:30” with anchor Andria Case to talk about the best movies and television to watch this weekend, including the final season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on Crave, the second season of the Crave drama “Tokyo Vice,” the Crave docuseries “An Optimist’s Guide to the Planet” and the romance “Float.”
I sit in with NewsTalk 1010 host Jim Richards on the coast-to-coast-to-coast late night “NewsTalk Tonight” to play the game “Did Richard Crouse Like This?” This week we talk about the zom rom com “Lisa Frankenstein,” the romance “Float” and the drama “Sometimes I Think About Dying.”
I join “CTV News Toronto at Five” with host Natalie Johnson, to talk about the zom rom com “Lisa Frankenstein,” the romance “Float” and the drama “Sometimes I Think About Dying.”
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to do a push-up! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the zom rom com “Lisa Frankenstein,” the romance “Float” and the drama “Sometimes I Think About Dying.”
I join CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to talk about the zom rom com “Lisa Frankenstein,” the romance “Float” and the drama “Sometimes I Think About Dying.”
I sit in with CKTB morning show host Tim Denis to have a look at the zom rom com “Lisa Frankenstein,” the romance “Float” and the drama “Sometimes I Think About Dying.”
I sit in on the CFRA Ottawa morning show with host Bill Carroll to talk the new movies coming to theatres and streaming including the zom rom com “Lisa Frankenstein,” the romance “Float” and the drama “Sometimes I Think About Dying.”
“Float,” a new romance starring “Kim Convenience’s” Andrea Bang and “Upload’s” Robbie Amell, and now playing in theatres, is an old-fashioned romance about having to choose between family expectations and love.
Set during the summer before Waverly (Bang) is set to do a medical residency in Toronto, the story begins with the young protagonist making a detour from a planned visit with her parents in Taiwan. She hasn’t seen them in years, not since she began studying medicine in Chicago. “They make sure I have everything I need,” she says, “but they don’t really know me.”
At the last minute she detours, and stops over to visit with her hippie-ish aunt (Michelle Krusiec) in Tofino, British Columbia.
“I haven’t had time off since med school,” Waverly says. “Now is my chance. I haven’t told my parents”
It’s a rare impulsive move for Waverly, who until this point has followed a path in life predetermined by her mother and father.
When she almost drowns, charming and handsome lifeguard Blake (Amell) comes to her rescue. He’s a local, tethered to the town by family obligations. The two hit it off, and as Waverly settles into life in the beach town, Blake gives her swimming lessons.
“Why are you doing this?” she asks.
“I like spending time with you,” he says.
They fall in love, but will the expectations of Waverly’s parents prevent them from having a life together?
If you can’t figure out how “Float” ends, then you may want to rethink your Harlequin Book of the Month subscription. The escapist story, about finding a path forward in life using love as a compass, may be predictable, but writer and co-director (adapting a wildly successful Wattpad story by writer Kate Marchant) Sherren Lee provides just enough conflict between Waverly and her parents and Blake and his sister to keep the movie on a low dramatic simmer throughout.
This is a story about, as Waverly says, finding creating a logical family over a biological family. It’s about the joys of friendship and love, and opening oneself up to new experiences and people. To that end Lee casts an appealing supporting cast with King Bach, Rukiya Bernard, Sarah Desjardins, Ghazal Azarbad and Tristan Arthurs, playing members of Waverly’s supportive new family.
It’s fitting, that given the setting of the film, that “Float” is the equivalent of a summer beach read. Despite some clunky, earnest dialogue—”I want to stay here with you but I want to be a doctor,” sounds like a rejected line from a Hallmark movie—the movie does what it set out to do, put a new spin on a classic genre.