Marc Messier Movies

In this installment of the Canadian sports comedy film series, an amateur hockey gets invited to participate in a game against former All-Stars from the NHL. In order to prepare for this epic encounter, the team decides to go on a retreat together - a decision that may lead to more distractions than they anticipated. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Canada's favorite cinematic hockey team returns in this comedy that features some of Quebec's most popular film and television stars. The film's 1997 predecessor grossed more money than any other French-Canadian film. The sequel begins as Les Boys, a championship amateur Montreal hockey team, flies to France to participate in an international competition in the alpine village of Chamonix. This time, rather than focusing on the team's on-ice hijinks, director Louis Saia spends the first part of the story on the characters as they attempt to cope with the cultural differences between themselves and the native French while also taking time to explore the romances between team lothario Bob and a local girl, and Coach Stan who involves himself with Violette, the owner of a local bistro. The on-ice action picks up when the tournament begins, and Les Boys promptly lose to a rag-tag West African team. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

This Canadian comedy-drama from Quebec centers upon the mid-life crisis of one middle-class man who falls in love with a stripper and abandons his family. He is Real, a high-school teacher with the regulation attractive wife, two cute kids, and a lovely home in the suburbs. He leads a dull, predictable life until he and his buddies head to the local strip joint and see the luscious Angie singing a gutsy rock & roll tune and doing her act in a see-through body suit,. Intrigued, he decides to hang around and have a drink with her. He then takes her to her apartment and they end up engaged in fast and furious illicit behavior. Unable to contain his little secret, he blurts out details of the affair to his librarian wife at her work-place. She does not take it gracefully and a terrible row ensues. Milque-toast Real's involvement with Angie brings him into a seamy world filled with drugs, crime and gangsters. Eventually, he becomes the emcee for Angie's club and more mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this tragicomedy, Toni (Tony Niardi) is the director of a staged rendition of Othello in Montreal. It is a pet project of his, financed by his loving mafia uncle. Unbeknownst to him, the audiences are also rounded up (and paid) by the same uncle. Some of them have seen every performance of this tragic play, and are understandably bored, so when the backstage romantic shenanigans of the actors result in absurd situations onstage, the audience is delighted. There are a huge number of romantic situations going on in this film at the same time. One of them involves Gaston (Jean Lapointe), a somewhat world-weary jazz musician, and Florence (Louise Marleau), a glamorous middle-aged woman who has been pining for him for years. Another involves to members of the musician's jazz trio. Yet another involves the play's Desdemona, Soledad (Charlotte Laurier), the girlfriend of the man playing Othello, who can't keep his hands off his (female) dresser. She is also Florence's neice. This busy story pokes fun at many local foibles and was a huge success in Quebec. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Five terminally ill patients inside the cancer ward of one hospital are the subject of this fictional accounting of different stances in front of the specter of imminent death. Whereas a middle-aged man and woman derive strength and comfort from each other, another young man is driven to suicide after saying a final farewell to his family and friends. The stories about each of the patients are introduced in the staff meetings at the hospital, in which each of the five cases is brought up in sequence. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi