I Like Movies, a coming-of-age dramedy set in the early-2000s, alternates between the double life of 17-year-old Burlington native Lawrence Kweller (Isiah Lehtinen): an outspoken high school senior and an obsessive film buff at his local video store, Sequels Video, who is simply trying to fit in. Lawrence is an opinionated know-it-all under both roofs, but he feels more in his element at Sequels and is elated when they finally hire him on as an employee.  He’s dead set on attending NYU for film and wants to have the money ready when the university sends him his acceptance letter.  Lawrence’s mother (Krista Bridges) insists he anchors himself to a more realistic post-secondary career in Canada, but he can’t help but lose himself to his filmmaking dreams.

As a lifelong movie dork who still believes being a video store clerk was one of the best jobs to have, I Like Movies hit a lot of personal notes that rang true: the excitement of a new release, the perks of free rentals, awkwardly building a rapport with my older co-workers.  Additionally, writer/director Chandler Levack provides a lot of big laughs with uncouth teenage etiquette, period sight gags, and Canadian easter eggs.  However, the period continuity isn’t consistent which is a real letdown.  For a film presumably set in 2002 and 2003, the technology at a featured Cineplex movie theatre are contemporary (using a rep theatre would’ve prevented this discrepancy) and the posters at Sequels advertising new releases feature Canadian indies released from the next decade.  Canadian filmmakers like Sean Garrity and the Astron-6 collective surely appreciate the shout-outs, but the continuity errors are very surprising considering Levack is a film critic for The Globe and Mail.  Did I see a poster for 2020’s Psycho Goreman?  Chandler…

Nitpicks aside, though Levack’s feature film debut starts out strong and ends well enough with a satisfying albeit simple arc for Lawrence, I Like Movies is still undercooked.  To perhaps replicate the same distracted and aimless nature of Lawrence’s life, I Like Movies drifts when the teen starts working at Sequels and gets into a spat with his outcast buddy Matt (Percy Hynes-White of Our House), not necessarily being driven by either the workplace comedy or the character study based on Lawrence.  Because the movie recedes into a thin imitation of a teenager’s ambitions and worries, Levack’s movie ends up folding under the weight of heavier themes that are introduced later on (such as suicide and mental health, and suggested sexual assault) and never proves that it’s qualified enough to discuss these personal topics.

Hate to sound like a “Lawrence”, but I Like Movies is pretty disappointing.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie