Building your film upon a high-concept storyline that
stretches credibility to breaking point is a risky strategy that results in
failure in most cases. Surprisingly, Ken Scott's comedy Starbuck manages to
ride out its unlikely narrative all the way to a satisfying finale, thanks to a screenplay full of neat surprises and a pair of lead performances that bring a grounded charm to
this fantastical tale. Patrick Huard is David Wozniak, a 42 year-old slacker
and habitual fuckup who spends much of his time dodging local heavies over an
unpaid debt and swerving commitment questions from his girlfriend. The event
that shakes up David's life is a blast from the past. During the 1980s, he made
money be donating sperm under the pseudonym "Starbuck" and it turns
out that he is now the unwitting father of 533 children, 140 of whom now want
to know who he is.
This revelation forces David into hiding, and he hires his
friend Avocat (Antoine Bertrand) to plead his case for anonymity in the courts,
but curiosity draws him back to the bundle of profiles left with him by the
lawyer hired by his offspring. That curiosity is stoked further when he
discovers one of his sons is the star player on his local football team, and
soon David is tracking down the rest of his offspring, stalking them and
attempting to inconspicuously intervene in their lives like a shabby guardian
angel. This aspect of Ken Scott and Martin Petit's screenplay is rather contrived
and episodic, and the picture is littered with subplots and loose ends that
don't quite gel, but Starbuck gets away with it, largely because it is
consistently very funny.
The motor of the movie is a tremendous lead performance from
Huard, whose innate amiability and sincerity encourages to stick with the
character as he travels across his uneven arc. The scenes in which David bonds with his own kin – unbeknownst to them – are finely judged, with
sentimentality just about held at bay. His meeting with his mentally
handicapped son could have been too mawkish to bear, but Huard makes us believe
in his characters conflicted emotions and Scott skilfully dictates the tone of
these tricky scenes. The other standout performance in the film comes from
Bertrand, as the small-time lawyer tackling the biggest case of his life in
defence of his best friend. This exuberant and endearing actor is responsible
for some of the film's biggest laughs; from his bewildered reactions to David's
predicament to his heartfelt but clumsy courtroom performance towards the
film's climax.
Starbuck finally lets sentimentality win during its saccharine closing
moments, but the fact that Scott has kept the movie above water for so long is
testament to his inventive storytelling and confident direction of actors. It's
one of the funniest and most satisfying comedies released this year and it
deserves to find an audience, but will it have the opportunity to be a breakout
hit? An English-language US remake of Starbuck is already in production with
Scott, strangely, taking the directorial reins on this second version of his
story. Will that picture share this Canadian production's understated charm?
Will Vince Vaughn be capable of following Huard's terrific lead turn? Perhaps
the remake will prove to be a worthwhile endeavour, but right now this Starbuck
is the one to see, while you have the chance.