Most recognize Jay Baruchel for his comic roles in Knocked Up, She’s Out of My League, Man Seeking Woman, and as the voice of Hiccup in How to Train Your Dragon. But in recent years he’s made almost a full transition to a filmmaker, writing the hockey comedy Goon then making his directorial debut with its sequel, Goon 2: Last of the Enforcers. Now Baruchel is back with his latest directorial effort, Random Acts of Violence, a slasher that debuted last year at Fantastic Fest.
As in most of Baruchel’s films, he also takes a co-starring role, joined by Jesse Williams, Jordana Brewster, and Niamh Wilson. The story follows a comic book creator and his publisher who made their names with a comic based on real-life serial killer Slasherman. While on a road trip to New York Comic-Con they visit the town where the murders occurred, only to find that a series of eerily familiar murders are being committed. How long before the creators themselves become the targets?
Baruchel wrote the script with his Goon co-writer Jesse Chabot. The film was right at home with the genre crowd of Fantastic Fest, and the strong reviews coming out of it reflect that. Random Acts of Violence should also be right at home on Shudder, which will debut the film on August 20th.
SYNOPSIS: What are the real consequences when life begins to imitate art? Comic book creator Todd Walkley (Jesse Williams), his wife Kathy (Jordana Brewster), assistant Aurora (Niamh Wilson) and best friend, Hard Calibre Comics owner Ezra (Baruchel), embark upon a road trip from Toronto to New York Comic Con and bad things start to happen. People start getting killed. It soon becomes clear that a crazed fan is using Todd’s “SLASHERMAN” comic as inspiration for the killings and as the bodies pile up, and Todd’s friends and family become victims themselves, Todd will be forced to take artistic responsibility.
In Vietnam, Jack Bronson (James Cromwell) was a member of the “Chain Breakers,” a group of Vietnam POWs who escaped their prison during the war, finds himself in another “prison.” This time it’s The Hogan Hills Retirement Home for Returned Servicemen and Women down under. How and American GI ends up in an Australian Nursing home you ask? He actually wanted to “break-in” in order to finally locate his long-lost love Norma (Jacki Weaver), who he’s waited fifty years to try and pop the question to. Unfortunately for him, the day he gets to the nursing home is the day that she’s transferred out for an experimental Alzheimer’s treatment. Now he’s stuck in the nursing home and cannot leave. Lucky for him, all the other members of the Chain Breakers just happen to be in the nursing home with him.
Part of the Chain Breakers includes Jeremiah Caine (Dennis Waterman), Angus Wilson (Jack Thompson), and James Wendell (Roy Billing), who seem to be content with living out their retirement years under the care of the staff at Hogan Hills. Jack, of course, doesn’t want to remain in the retirement home and wants to get Norma as she may not remember him by the time she comes back to Hogan Hills. After all, they are the Chain Breakers, they should be able to get out of a measly retirement community. After all, it’s not the Hanoi Hilton! But of course, they are no longer special forces members anymore. While Jeremiah seems pretty there, Angus is also starting to have memory issues and James is wheelchair-bound. Trying to plot a great escape is no longer as easy as they thought. To top it off, there’s some lying and deceit amongst the through as the reason for their escape.
The Chain Breakers enlist the help of Elliot (Zachary Wan), a young student who’s the son of a nurse and a genuine Chain Breaker fanboy. No matter what they do however, it just doesn’t seem to work. They can’t outsmart the staff at the Hogan Hills and we get a few comedic moments of their trials and errors. Soon enough, they do the simplest thing and find a way to make their great escape. Towards the end, it turns into a cross of Ocean’s Eleven, Grumpy Old Men, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as the Chain Breakers get to enjoy some newfound freedom. Each has a reason to say “it’s never too late.” Jack has to get with Norma, Jeremiah wants to sail a boat as a bucket list item, Angus wants his football (Rugby for us in the states) medal currently on display, and Wendell wants to reunite with his estranged son who he hasn’t seen after spending most of his post-Vietnam life in prison (for being a bank robber) and in Hogan Hills.
While Never Too Late is a dramedy, the drama is where it works best. The comedy bits have their moments but usually at the expense of the Chain Breakers just being old. Jack not knowing what Yelp is but wants to leave Hogan Hills a bad review, a weird gay gag, and a few other moments end up falling flat. Of course, how do American and British vets end up at an Australian retirement home for the military is never answered? Shouldn’t the VA or the Veterans UK offer these services for their soldiers? However, The film is also elevated by the cast, especially Cromwell and Weaver, who is deliciously charming as they flirt with each other. The dramatic moments in Never Too Late also are great. When the Chain Breakers revisit their unbreakable bond as they continuously say their group motto of “no excuses, no regrets” to remind them that they can achieve everything, even escaping a retirement home.
