Douglas Coupland's first feature screenplay is not unlike his novels: a talky screwball comedy populated by vividly kooky Canucks. The lone straight arrow in the bunch is Ryan (Paulo Costanzo), an office drone in his mid-twenties who is, like any viable coming-of-age-comedy hero, in need of some fantastic, unexpected life change. It seems to come early on in the form of a winning lottery ticket, but the script throws a changeup and Ryan ends up working as a photographer charged with taking pictures of other overnight millionaires.

So far, so funny. Director Paul Fox puts all the narrative ducks in a nice, clean row with the introduction of both a love interest (Steph Song) and a romantic rival (Six Figures star JR Bourne in amusing, full-on dick mode) who lures Ryan into a life of white-collar crime. Fox then knocks those ducks down briskly, pacing the film well and balancing some of Coupland's more precious conceits (pothead parents, a romantic moment next to the corpse of a whale) by placing the action within some unobtrusive stylistic quotation marks. With its jangly soundtrack and growing-up-is-hard-to-do message, the film invites comparisons to Garden State, but at the risk of selling the movie short, Fox's modest effort is more engaging than Zach Braff's vanity project.

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