Saturday movie review: Wild Canaries

Unfortunately I cannot tell you when this movie will be released theatrically. I can tell you, though, that the minute you get the chance to see WILD CANARIES, you absolutely must. This funky, romantic, comedic, screwball murder mystery is in a class of its own and not to be missed.

WILD CANARIES directed by Lawrence Michael Levine stars Levine as Noah and his real-life wife, Sophia Takal, as Barri, a recently engaged couple living in Brooklyn. Noah and Sophia have a roommate named Jean (Alia Shawkat), an unconventional landlord named Damien (Jason Ritter), and a neighbor named Anthony (Kevin Corrigan) whose elderly mother recently dropped dead.

Barri suspects Anthony murdered his mother and, against Noah's initial wishes, recruits Jean to help her prove Anthony's guilt. From there, comedy ensues as the entire cast of characters — along with Eleanor (Annie Parisse) Noah's ex and coworker who just so happens to be Jean's new crush — set out on a zany whodunit of hilarious yet low-key proportion.

I'm unable to find a trailer for the film, but here's a brief clip to give you a taste of the droll silliness that permeates WILD CANARIES:

 

My bottom-line, one-word description for WILD CANARIES: Fun! In every respect. The script is fast-paced fun. The acting is out-there fun — even by those who, on paper, might be deemed lecherous, scandalous, murderous. The interaction between characters is ferociously fun, between those who are unconventionally romantically entangled as well as the folks fighting with one another... or fighting for their lives.

Fun, fun, fun.

And, as I mentioned, not to be missed.

As I couldn't find a trailer, here's just a smidgen more about the film, via an interview Lawrence Michael Levine did with Huffington Post at SXSW Film Festival in March:

 

WILD CANARIES has screened at numerous film festivals since opening — and being nominated for the Grand Jury Award — at SXSW. Keep an eye out for it to open soon near you or, at the very least, to eventually show up in your Netflix stream.

WILD CANARIES is currently unrated. Find out more about the film at WildCanariesMovie.com.

I screened this film for free as part of my coverage of the 2014 Starz Denver Film Festival.

Starz Denver Film Festival