One Week
2008 Directed by Michael McGowan
Synopsis
What Would You Do?
Ben Tyler (Joshua Jackson) has been diagnosed with cancer. With a grim chance of survival in the best case scenario even if he immediately begins treatment, he instead decides to take a motorcycle trip from Toronto through the Canadian prairies to British Columbia.
Studio
Popular reviews
More-
I'll be damned if you stumble upon a more Canadian movie than this, at least without being a tourist propaganda machine or something along those lines.
In my case it was obviously my longstanding admiration of Joshua Jackson that brought me on board. Ever since his Pacey Witter days of Dawson's Creek I've been cheering for the guy, and it didn't get any less loudly after his Peter Bishop of Fringe. He's carrying this soul-searching movie mostly alone, and does so well. A few of the support characters get enough to do to actually help it a little along, but this is mostly a one man show.
You'll have to search hard and long for an actor I'm less inclined…
-
tarsh.
-
For some strange reason, I thought that a movie with Joshua Jackson dying of cancer in Canada, couldn't be such a snoozefest that it, in general, was. The soundtrack was okay, but the movie failed to tell me anything i didn't already know. The dead-dog woman part was beautiful, though. The alive-dog woman part was okay too. Bonus half-star because I liked the ending.
-
I had once wanted to strangle a narrator, and it was some time during the third season of Arrested development when Ron Howard’s obnoxiousness reached its (fortunately temporary) nadir.
This was the second time. The narrator in One week tries to extract some deeper meaning from a sequence of ultimately random and arbitrary events. He fails, predictably, but he does so with obviousness and cringeworthiness both dialed up to 11. “When Ben woke, he was deliriously content.” Who talks like that?
There’s some fitting (if awfully similar) music underscoring the protagonist’s voyage and some decent moments – but, just like with any lame road trip, few and far between. And this was a lame road trip. What would I do if I had one week to live? Lord, I hope something more exciting than this.
Recent reviews
More-
Beautiful and truly Canadian, which is nice to see. The only problem with the movie was Lianne Balaban who chose to play her character as grating and shrieky - I would have liked to feel a little bit sorry for her. Joshua Jackson more than makes up for that minor shortfall though.
-
I'll be damned if you stumble upon a more Canadian movie than this, at least without being a tourist propaganda machine or something along those lines.
In my case it was obviously my longstanding admiration of Joshua Jackson that brought me on board. Ever since his Pacey Witter days of Dawson's Creek I've been cheering for the guy, and it didn't get any less loudly after his Peter Bishop of Fringe. He's carrying this soul-searching movie mostly alone, and does so well. A few of the support characters get enough to do to actually help it a little along, but this is mostly a one man show.
You'll have to search hard and long for an actor I'm less inclined…
-
tarsh.
-
For some strange reason, I thought that a movie with Joshua Jackson dying of cancer in Canada, couldn't be such a snoozefest that it, in general, was. The soundtrack was okay, but the movie failed to tell me anything i didn't already know. The dead-dog woman part was beautiful, though. The alive-dog woman part was okay too. Bonus half-star because I liked the ending.
-
I remember liking this more the first time I saw it.
I don't know, perhaps I was wishing for cancer back then.
-
There really is a great story buried deep in this film, a rehash of the old road-trip-to-find-yourself cliche, only without a drop of sentimentality, mysticism or easy answers. The movie doesn't overreach itself, and it makes sense to me on a very basic level. The script is really what lets it down, which is strange because the characters are quite thought-out and believable, but the actual writing is not. The film starts with a narrator reading character notes out loud, shameless and lazy exposition that could easily have been worked into the story elegantly. That narrator never shuts up either, ever. In fact, one of the final shots of the film is the narrator in his recording booth, just in…
-
I watched this via Netflix streaming on a recommendation and it was surprisingly good. One of those films that makes you wish you could just go on a road trip and figure it all out.
-
Understated yet maybe a little too earnest. The excessive Canadiana was fun though.
-
I had once wanted to strangle a narrator, and it was some time during the third season of Arrested development when Ron Howard’s obnoxiousness reached its (fortunately temporary) nadir.
This was the second time. The narrator in One week tries to extract some deeper meaning from a sequence of ultimately random and arbitrary events. He fails, predictably, but he does so with obviousness and cringeworthiness both dialed up to 11. “When Ben woke, he was deliriously content.” Who talks like that?
There’s some fitting (if awfully similar) music underscoring the protagonist’s voyage and some decent moments – but, just like with any lame road trip, few and far between. And this was a lame road trip. What would I do if I had one week to live? Lord, I hope something more exciting than this.