Canuxploitation is the mash-up film genre you didn’t even know you were missing, and Bad City is its grooviest specimen.
The made-in-Vancouver indie comedy has been riding the film festival circuit since premiering at the 2014 Whistler Film Festival, where it was one of Reel People’s top picks. This week, it will finally screen for the hometown crowd.
Directed by Carl Bessai (who took on the film noir genre in 2013’s No Clue), Bad City positions itself in its first few frames as an authentic example of Canuxploitation.
The genre had a brief hurrah in the ‘70s when American filmmakers took advantage of tax incentives to film B-movies in the Great White North.
Bad City riffs on this retro genre, cleverly employing many of the tropes we’ve come to associate with Blaxploitation films of the same era: choppy editing; sloppy continuity; overacting; random product placement; stock footage; and dated turns of phrase.
“The idea came up, and we were like, ‘What if we did this ‘70s cop thing, and it was bad? And we made a bad movie?’ And we were all, ‘We would love to make a bad movie,’” said co-star and co-writer Dustin Milligan during a press junket at the Whistler Film Festival.
“It took us only 10 days to write the script, because we could leave every error in there. Overly expository dialogue? We left it in, because it worked.”
Reel People’s interview with Milligan was borderline surreal: the usually clean-shaven actor (whose numerous credits include 90210, X Company, and Schitt’s Creek) arrived for the press junket virtually unrecognizable in his full Bad City get-up – flowing wig, faux beard, bandana, chain, Burt Reynolds shades, and suede vest – as if he’d just stepped off of the screen and out of the ‘70s.
In Bad City, Milligan is Detective Reverend Grizzly Night-Bear, a spiritually inclined, powder-lovin’ cop who’s handy with a pair of nunchucks.
He’s paired with Detective Franky New Guinea (co-writer Aaron Brooks), a lothario currently mourning the death of his partner (Viv Leacock in a brief but scene-stealing role). The duo is tasked with investigating a party drug that’s killing teens left and right.
This is a buddy cop movie, so naturally, Night-Bear and Franky don’t get along at first – but the storyline is almost secondary to the conceit of the film, you dig?
Besides offering a fresh take on a bygone genre, Bad City is also an example of brohood in action.
Milligan and Brooks met at an industry Christmas party in 2003. “We ran into each other at the bar, did random, terrible Boston accents with each other, and have been friends ever since,” said Milligan.
Before Bad City, they’d frequently discussed co-writing and co-producing a film together – something many actors talk about, but few ever attempt, according to Milligan.
“Everyone talks, ‘we should make a sketch, or we should make our own show,’ and I get so tired of that conversation, but what was great with Brooksy is that we actually followed through with it,” Milligan said, before describing himself as a “huge Brooks fan.”
“I think Brooks is so good in this movie,” he raved. “I’m wearing the crazy beard, but I think Brooks is so earnest in his performance in this movie. It’s hilarious.”
The film was shot at Capilano University (“There were three different sets that we used, but they were all in one room. We were just shooting in different corners”) and at locations around Vancouver, and features a veritable who’s-who of local talent, including David Cubitt as crooked city councilor Dominic Kincaid, Amanda Crew (Silicon Valley) as Franky’s bookish love interest, and Ali Liebert, David Lewis, and Jay Brazeau.
“The collaborative nature of the movie is probably what was most exciting for us all, and the entire cast and crew had a say in every scene they were in, and I think the film benefitted as a result,” said Milligan.
“We shot it with no money and all on favours, and it turned out, we think, pretty darn good.”
• Bad City screens at the Rio Theatre on May 15. A Q&A with Milligan, Brooks, Bessai, and Crew will follow the screening. Can’t make it out for the superfly screening? Watch Bad City online at BadCityMovie.com.
