This skimpily budgeted independent film from Canada is undernourished in terms of both plot and character, with its action central to a storyline that wants for fundamental elements of logic and continuity. Sean Cisterna, a very active director whose better work is often constructed in a documentary design, also produces, scripts and directs here, all while plainly losing focus as the affair moves along. An erratically cobbled, curiously overlong film, CHICKNAPPING hovers uncertainly between genres of comedy and suspense as it tells its wobbly tale of a young man, Dennis (Josh Campbell) who, in a peculiar attempt to regain favour with his disenchanted girlfriend Amanda (Lauren Kurtz), arranges for an acquaintance from his acting class, Thomas (David Dineen-Porter) to kidnap her into loosely forced custody upon the sylvan-ringed shores of Shadow Lake, close to Toronto. Dennis intends to suddenly arrive and "rescue" Amanda. The abductor (who prates upon the Stockholm Syndrome) and Amanda are unsurprisingly attracted to each other, with Thomas as a result soon disillusioned with his role as felon. The awkward situation becomes increasingly black for him after Amanda's father (a watermelon mogul!) electronically traces the pair and dispatches a triggerwoman, Thalia (Ashley Morris), who is for an unexplained reason in his employ, to kill Thomas and restore the kidnapped girl to freedom. During this same time, Dennis appears in the area, his intent being to redeem his stolen love, but becoming instead an ancillary target for homicidal Thalia. This insubstantial and witless essay at comedy evidently suffered several sea changes between script to screen, as a result offering only mild diversion to a viewer. Dineen-Porter is clearly undaunted by such restraints as might be provided by a director or a screenplay, his ad libbing for the most part playing out as babble. The storyline is terminally inane, but is increasingly trivialised by shabby editing. Kurtz, who has given up acting and has become a non-cinematic makeup artist, tussles gamely in an attempt to project her generally absurd dialogue.
