From the producers of "Hobo With a Shotgun" comes Cottage Country. The film's lead being Tyline Labine, who you will probably recognize from the film "Tucker and Dale vs Evil", a film where he both figuratively & literally killed it in the role as Dale. Labine returns to a film filled with accident evil, not quite as good as Tucker and Dale, but a fun romp
Here Labine plays the somewhat more refined role of Todd Chipowski, a man who has planned out the perfect week long getaway at his parent's lake house with his longtime girlfriend Cammie(Malin Akerman). Todd has planned a bit more than just the vacation, he and Cammie have plans to paddle out to the lake's remote island and find the perfect spot for Todd to pop the question. Before they even get settled in, Todd's rowdy, obnoxious brother Salinger(Dan Petronijevic) shows up with his sleazy girlfriend Masha in tow(Lucy Punch). When Todd tells Sal to hit the road they end up in a scuffle which ends up with the better part of an ax head buried into his Sal's neck. When Cammie hears the news, she decides that nothing is going stop their engagement and they continue with their plans on the island. Little do they know that Sal has invited all his friends over for a big bash that very night and they return to find a house full of strangers and a whole lot of explaining,lying and diverting to do as to the whereabouts of Sal and why his car is in the driveway.
It has been done before effectively in numerous dark comedies, but this film has a fresh feel and once it fully gets going, will have you laughing a good deal as well as squirming in your seat. One great surprise for me was the effective zig-zag in the film's final minutes, it does something unpredictable and leaves you with a certain upbeat sense of karma. I think it's a fine choice for some good laughs and some great spurts of uncomfortable tension which I recommend if that's what you're in the mood for.
