Starbuck (2011)

We loved this screwball comedy about David, a 40-something Canadian loser who discovers his sperm has anonymously fathered 533 children, some of whom are searching for him. It's hilarious, creative, occasionally heart-warming, and we particularly liked David's outstanding collection of vintage T-shirts (old sports teams and more--Jack knew them all) and toys. Starbuck, the alias he used at the sperm bank in 1988, is the name of a Canadian bull who produced hundreds of thousands of calves by artificial insemination around that time. Patrick Huard (new to me, he's a comedian and has been in a number of movies that I haven't seen) is wonderful as the hapless David. Antoine Bertrand (also unknown to me) plays David's best friend and lawyer. This was a great choice for Mothers' Day!

Director Ken Scott (wrote six screenplays, directed one of them) co-wrote the original script with Martin Petit (a comedian, he makes his movie debut with this) and they did, you should forgive the expression, a bang-up job. When I took French in junior high and high school, I learned a Parisian accent. The Montreal accent is very different, e.g. I would pronounce pére, which means father, with the vowel sound as pair, but they say par. But then I've never been eager to omit the subtitles.

Besides the story and the laughs I was more absorbed in the wardrobe and set decoration than the music, but here's a list of songs, including one you can hear here. David Lafleche composes his first score.

This is another movie that the critics are overthinking, averaging just 65% on rottentomatoes. Audiences know better, rating it 82%.

First released in Canada at the end of 2011, it made a splash at a few random film festivals and didn't make it into American theatres until mid March 2013. We recommend you see it during its limited run now because the American DVD isn't coming out until July (although if you have a Canadian address you can get it from amazon.ca now). Apparently Scott has adapted his own script and will direct (or has directed) an American remake, Delivery Man, starring Vince Vaughan and Chris Pratt, to be released in October. I'm sure it'll be good. But do see this one first!