In the lead up to the 7th Canadian Film Festival in Australia (August 2012), join us as we countdown the Top 100 Canadian Films of the past 30 years. We'll be posting one film a day leading up to Canada Day on July 1st 2012. Do you agree with our staff favourites? Let us know your thoughts!
#96 - Bon Cop Bad Cop
In October 2006, Eric Canuel’s Bon Cop Bad Cop became the highest grossing Canadian film of all time in
Canada, beating the record previously held by Porky’s. A witty, action-packed take on the cop buddy movie, it was a rare film to bring together talent – and audiences – from both Quebec and English-speaking Canada.
When a crime is committed on the border between Quebec and Ontario, the police forces of both provinces must work together whether they like it or not. David Bouchard (Patrick Huard) and Martin Ward (Colm Feore) are the two cops assigned to the case and, of course, they couldn’t be more different. Bouchard is a loose-cannon stud from Montreal while Toronto’s Detective Ward is the buttoned-down WASP who does everything by the book.
This sly, tongue-in-cheek caper manages to shake the cop buddy genre free of its tired clichés without sacrificing the requisite action scenes and macho banter. It borrows the mechanics of a genre once the sole property of the Hollywood dream machine just south of the border, but upturns its conventions, whipping the formula into a light and frothy concoction that is uniquely Canadian.
Trading on the cultural stereotypes associated with each province, the film is packed full of Canadian jokes, hockey references (the hockey-mask wearing serial killer stalks NHL celebrities) and home-grown humour. Rather than excluding non-Canadian audiences this gives the movie a real, authentic sense of place and a charm that Hollywood mismatched cop movies haven’t captured well since the 80s.
It’s no masterpiece, but Canuel makes no apologies in his quest for the excessive and the ludicrous. This isn’t a film to take too seriously.
- Matt Ravier
“This film is accessible and entertaining, with enough local flavour to seem exotic to English viewers. Not only that, but it’s FUN.” – Film Threat
Bon Cop Bad Cop had its Australian premiere at the 1st Possible Worlds Film Festival in 2006.
To see the other films in the countdown so far, click here.