DEANER ‘89: 3 ½ STARS. “You’re never too old to start givin’er.”
SYNOPSIS: We first met Dean Murdoch (Paul Spence), the “Governor of Givin’er,” twenty-two years ago in the classic mockumentary “FUBAR.” “Deaner ‘89” sees the headbanger looking back at his life, revealing how he survived the 1980s and made a success of himself.
CAST: Paul Spence, Will Sasso, Mary Walsh, Kevin McDonald, Star Slade, Maddy Foley. Directed by Sam McGlynn.
REVIEW: Loud and proud, “Deaner ‘89” is an outlandish comedy, with, what must be one of the highest f-bomb to lines of dialogue ratios in film history, and yet it succeeds because of its heart, not just its humor.
Dean Murdoch, played by the forty-something Paul Spence from teen to adult, could easily have been a caricature of a devil horn flippin’, Dokken lovin’ metalhead, but Spence taps into something deeper. Dean is a devil horn flippin’, Dokken lovin’ metalhead, but he’s also rather sweet, positive and optimistic. The key to getting away with some of his more outlandish behavior is that ultimately, he’s a good guy and you root for him. Spence, who also wrote the script, ensures you laugh with him, not at him.
But “Deaner ‘89” is more than a small-town origin story. (FYI: We’ve been asked to point to out that it is not a “FUBAR” movie, nor is it connected to the “FUBAR” franchise.) Dean finds himself on a highway to hell, via heavy metal, shotgunned beers and decks of smokes, but the story is heightened by an examination of his recently uncovered, and life changing, Metis heritage. What begins as a story of small-town Canadian life becomes a larger story, flavored by the Sixties Scoop and anti-Indigenous racism.
Spence, who also wrote the script, never forgets this is a comedy. He weaves humor into every scene, but never settles for the easy joke. The funny stuff is situational, good naturedly riffing on the time frame and Dean’s aspirations of heavy metal glory. It’s part Canadian 80s nostalgia, part hero’s journey to a different life.
Twenty-two years after we first met the Deaner there’s still some juice to be squeezed from the character. “You’re never too old to start givin’er,” he says.
