Product Details

• Actors: Maury Chaykin, Paul Gross, Rebecca Jenkins, Daniel MacIvor, Sandra Oh
• Directors: Daniel MacIvor
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Film Movement
• DVD Release Date: January 1, 2005
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007TZV3K
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47,384 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Wilby Wonderful" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

WILBY WONDERFUL - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WILBY is Truly Wonderful, March 13, 2005

By 

M. Colford "chlotrudis" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wilby Wonderful (DVD)

Featuring an all-star Canadian cast, WILBY WONDERFUL is a warm ensemble comedy written and directed by the talented Daniel MacIvor. The small, island-town of Wilby is populated by islanders and off-islanders alike, but what all the characters share is a desire to love and be loved. Central to Wilby's difficulties is a scandal that threatens to tear the town apart. Details are scarce, but rumors are flying with the threat of public exposure hovering over the lives of two central characters in the film. Dan (James Allodi) repeatedly attempts to take his own life, but is constantly interrupted. Real estate agent Carol French (the delightful Sandra Oh) frantically prepares for a town-wide celebration while her relationship with her husband Buddy, a town cop (Paul Gross) grows stagnant. Buddy flirts with infidelity with Sandra (Rebecca Jenkins) whose attempts to resuscitate a local restaurant depends on her decision to stay or leave the town; a decision Sandra's daughter Emily (Ellen Page) frets about as she grows closer to a local boy whose motives for declaring his love for her grow suspect. WILBY WONDERFUL is a funny movie, filled with moments of gravity. MacIvor, whose first film was the emotional PAST PERFECT, directs with a light touch, allowing the ensemble of very strong performances shine. In this case, WILBY is truly wonderful.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can anyone give me a roadmap to this town????, March 15, 2006

By 

JUST A REVIEWER2 - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Wilby Wonderful (DVD)

What a little life-affirming gem this is; if it does nothing else, it leaves you with hope. Performances are everything in a film of this nature........and, here, not one of them lets you down. These guys and gals 'put out' what the multi-millionaire, cookie-cutter stars of Hollywood quite often do not. So, just a comment or two concerning them and/or their characterizations:

==Sandra Oh---Gee whiz, where has she dropped out of? If you're a fan of hers from TV's "Grey's Anatomy" and think she's the greatest, you ain't seen nothing yet (til you see her here........can there be any wonder why she won a 2006 Golden Globe award?).

==Paul Gross---Playing the 'almost' disillusioned husband and the oh-so-wise town policeman, he sneaks in under our radar and becomes 1 of the main axles of the town of Wilby. He's one of those types we all know who "keeps things running," someone with a mission to do the right thing.

==Rebecca Jenkins & Ellen Page---Being mother and daughter, they bring us into their skins (what tremendous performances).

==James Allodi---As 'one of life's saddest,' he gives us two instants on film when, in the lifeless eyes of a benumbed man undergoing both marriage breakup and devastating lifestyle change, we see appear a "spark" (the first a scarily breathtaking moment for us; the second a joyous one---you'll easily recognize them both).

==Callum Keith Rennie---If Allodi's Dan is the one begging redemption in this movie (its "life-loss" so to speak), then Rennie is its "life spark." Aside from the town policeman, no other is as sensitive to everyone else and their needs as is Duck MacDonald (to be stable, a vehicle needs at least 2 axles; Duck is this town's other). He is amazing in his perceptiveness, his caring, his persistence in landing who he knows to be the "love of his life." Showing my partiality (and preferences, I guess) I must say I only wish that every film of a lighter, romantic nature (containing gay aspects, or not), had a Callum Keith Rennie.

Lastly, what great and uplifting closing moments we've been given: the depth of feeling and the emotional intensity reached in the final scene's pairing is palpable, almost overwhelming........perfectly capping a little---but monumental---film belonging in every movie lover's collection.

PS: In its release year, if any film would have been worthy of consideration for one of the several "Best Ensemble Acting" awards, this film certainly should have been foremost (I can't believe the multi-cast acting in the recently awarded "Crash" could be of any higher caliber).

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top Drawer, June 2, 2006

By 

Lee Armstrong (Winterville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wilby Wonderful (DVD)

"Wilby Wonderful" is a delightful gem I encountered through the Magnolia Arts Center. This Canadian film was directed by Daniel MacIvor who plays the little role of Stan, a cop that keeps trying to plant drug paraphernalia on a pristine beach to further a plot hatched by the mayor to turn it into a golf course. Unfortunately, Stan doesn't know the difference between an unused insulin needle and a heroin addict's discard. James Allodi who starred this year with Carrie-Anne Moss & Signorey Weaver in "Snow Cake" does a great job as the hapless divorcee Dan trying to kill himself rather than come to terms with his attraction to other men. Callum Keith Rennie plays Duck MacDonald, the town workman, who has an attraction to Dan, if he could ever catch him between suicide attempts. MacIvor generates comedy such as in the scene where Sandra Oh happens upon the hanging Dan and we hear the body clunk to the floor as she cuts him down off-camera. We know what's happening and hear it, and laugh harder because we don't see it. Rennie won the Canadian Oscar, the Genie, as best supporting actor for "Last Night" and also appeared in "The Butterfly Effect." Sandra Oh who has become prominent via the hit TV series "Grey's Anatomy" and films like "Under the Tuscan Sun" & "Sideways" turns in a stellar performance as the real estate woman Carol French who'd rather hide a body in an empty house rather than blow a sale. Her husband is Buddy who is the town cop played by Paul Gross who we saw as the Canadian mountie in the "Due South" TV series. Buddy is tempted toward an affair by local restaurant owner Sandra Anderson played by Rebecca Jenkins who was in the "10.5" disaster TV movie. She also received a Genie nomination for Best Original Song for "Wilby Wonderful." Her daughter Emily has to sort out her relationship with a boy. Emily is played by Ellen Page who currently appears in "X-Men 3" and garnered a Best Supporting Actress Genie nomination for "Wilby Wonderful." The little cafe patron who hates gays named Irene played by Mary Ellen MacLean also gives a delightful cameo performance. "Wilby Wonderful" is a film that speaks about tolerance and people's need to be loved and find love. The characterizations are top drawer in this delightful little gem. BRAVO!