Unsere feindlichen Nachbarn

I don't usually write reviews, but I feel compelled. Just read through the user comments on Canadian Bacon here and I'm chuckleing. Not only is this movie subtly hilarious, its nearly perfect as so many people are only contributing to the joke.

I recall sitting in a hostel in Switzerland on a trip across Europe, and listening to two American guys drinking and talking to two Austrailians. They were telling them about this hilarious movie called Canadian Bacon that did such a great job of making fun of how stupid and dumb Canadians are.

Which only makes the movie better, because it is so obviously, once you are in the know, a satire of America and particularly it's arrogant/ignorant (take your pick) stereotypes of Canada.

Truly, with every scathing review stating "This movie is a waste of time as it makes obvious stabs at Canada. That country should be insulted and the joke gets old." No, the joke only gets better with every American reviewer who doesn't get it, pushing it that much closer to a truly inspired masterpiece.

I remember hearing poor reviews from Siskel and Ebert for this film when it came out. And I see what they meant, as I watch it today. It's not as snappy as it could have been, but there are some extremely funny lines. And it's especially timely to see the news anchors and "journalists" jumping on the hate-Canada bandwagon, because they still do that today, and seeing how ridiculous the arguments are against Canada makes one think about the dubious arguments made against other countries by our "journalists."

Kevin Pollack is really funny, as is John Candy. Rhea Pearlman is overly "quirky," in my view, but otherwise, I think it really rings true today. It's worth a rental!

I assumed this would be terrible because I never heard of it but it had some funny moments. I only watched it because of Candy but he's not really the star. If I had known Alda was in it and Moore wrote it, I definitely wouldn't have watched it. Glad I did.

As a person who has spent half his life on each side of the 49th parallel, I was delightfully impressed with this movie. There were countless cultural statements and innuendos that were absolutely hilarious. I can certainly see how someone unfamiliar with Canadian tradition and culture might not 'get' this movie. However, if you've lived in, visited, or known someone from Canada, this movie will provide non-stop laughs. Canada was certainly slapped in the face a number of times, but the balance was fair, with the Canadians scoring a number of blows against the Americans. Definitely worth the watch if you've got ties to Canada, otherwise it may seem silly and pointless.

While it had some flaws, mostly in some incomplete development of themes and failing to make full use of the story's potential, this is a brilliantly funny satire that mostly succeeds wonderfully on many levels.

The idea to have the US pick on Canada, internationally one of the world's least offensive and bellicose countries is itself brilliant. It wonderfully picks on the US, and more generally, on any rather belligerent nation that likes to throw its weight around and create excuses for doing so.

It also picks on the use of propaganda and even on mass media and mass mob hysteria. This is especially true in the way the film portrays how the American media discusses Canada and how some members of the public react, so that the whole idea spins out of control of those who began it for their own personal reasons. I was barely able to breath with laughter throughout the whole period when the US was flashing its propaganda about Canada and showing how threatening they are, especially how they claimed the Canadians were "infiltrating" American society and were "massing" on the border. This is wonderful satire on sensationalist news stations and their willingness to use information in a wildly inaccurate and misleading manner in order to rile people up.

The film picks on everyone involved, Canadian and American alike. It attacks the stereotypes of both, highlighting their differences yet also attacking the misconceptions about both peoples. To have a number of Canadians in the film is another flash of inspiration, too, since there are Canadians playing comically stereotypical (i.e., polite, white bread, well-spoken) Canadians and Canadians playing comically stereotypical (i.e., redneck, belligerent, crude) Americans. It adds to the irony since one of the American's propaganda tools is that there are Canadian actors everywhere in the US as such integral parts of the American entertainment industry that they are taken for Americans, and lo and behold, here some are playing various people in this film.

Some parts of the film were simply silly, with jokes that were more gags rather than actually furthering the satire and points of the movie, and this is a weak spot. While some were funny and worked, others were a bit inane and the film would have been more successful had they stuck to developing the real themes and satire of the film, which are what make it great.

Anyway, despite some weak points, this film is a brilliant satire that contains a number of parts that are utterly hilarious. It did not fulfill its full potential, but it is not too far below perfect and the good parts are really, really good.