Those hip to what LaLonde and company are laying down will be treated to an uncompromising comedic work unlike anything that’s been attempted in Canadian cinema for quite some time. The opening salvo of urine (which is matched nicely by the sepia, 70s styled tinting LaLonde frequently employs here) not only says, “abandon all hope, ye who enter here,” but also confronts the audience honestly and genuinely with a hearty “Fuck you, bud. Built around a story that questions how low already disgraceful people are willing to go to fulfill their own selfish needs, The Go-Getters only becomes funnier the more off putting it becomes, morphing into a completely ridiculous and gleefully nasty bit of business. LaLonde and writers Abrams and Brendan Gall quickly prove that they have nowhere to go but down and in a hurry. The Go-Getters opens with someone getting pissed on, and really a film that kicks off with such an abrasive, but amusing note can only go up or down from there. To get there by bus, they need to raise the seemingly manageable sum of $98, which considering their penchant for self-sabotage and overall loathsomeness towards others and each other, is easier said than done. Knowing that he’s on borrowed time, Owen reluctantly teams up with an equally terrible, down on her luck, and antisocial prostitute named Lacie (Tommie-Amber Pirie), who says she has access to a comfortable living situation for the both of them if they can find a way to get to her hometown out near Ottawa. Kevin takes some pity on his brother, allowing him to move his mattress into the boiler room of his Toronto dive bar. On the other hand, if you think movies like Bad Santa and Death to Smoochy are hilarious (like I do), The Go-Getters will get you rolling harder than you have in a long time.Īlcoholic burnout and freeloader Owen (Aaron Abrams) has just been kicked out by his brother, Kevin (Kristian Bruun), over his perpetual inability to stop drinking and get his shit together. If you’ve ever disliked a film because one or more of the main characters was tough to relate to or they constantly did nasty, terrible, horrible, no good, very bad things, then stay far the fuck away from this latest effort from director Jeremy LaLonde. A rapid fire series of escalating, misanthropic schemes enacted by a pair of characters that could most charitably be called unlikable, The Go-Getters assuredly won’t be to everyone’s comedic taste. And that makes all the difference.Deliberately grotesque, unapologetically foul-mouthed, and frequently hilarious Canadian comedy The Go-Getters revels in bad taste and worse behavior. As the story progresses and he learns and embraces the Five Laws, and, just as importantly, takes immediate action on those laws, he transforms beautifully into a person who’s still a go-getter he’s still a person of action but now he has heart of a go-giver. However, at first, he’s a go-getter with a go-taker’s heart. In the story, Joe is described at first as a go-getter who’s frustrated with his lack of success. And, even when they do, it’s typically short-lived. But they often wonder why, though they work hard and strive for success, they rarely attain it to the level feel they deserve. We’ve all known our share of these people, and they can be good people. The opposite of a go-giver is a go- taker, that person who feels almost entitled to take, take, take without having provided value - to the other person, to the relationship, to the process, etc. Of course, there are indeed times this is so this just isn’t one of them.)Īctually, the opposite of a go-giver is not a go-getter. (Thinking it does is another example of what John calls the “treacherous dichotomy,” that often false belief of something having to one or the other. In other words, being one does not exclude also being the other. The key is, while being a go-getter, to have a go-giver’s heart, which many go-getters do have. (Years ago, there was an excellent book written by Peter B. Kyne entitled The Go-Getter. They take action and, as you know, without action, nothing happens. Go-getters are generally people who make things happen, who get things done. John and I are often asked if – since we titled our book The Go-Giver – being a “go-getter” is a bad thing to be? Not at all.
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