Dirty Singles

Last updated

Dirty Singles
Dirty Singles poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by Alex Pugsley
Written byAlex Pugsley
Produced byMelanie Windle
Starring
CinematographyJason Tan
Edited byAdam Locke-Norton
Music by
  • Joseph Murray
  • Lodewijk Vos
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • March 1, 2014 (2014-03-01)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Dirty Singles is a 2014 Canadian romantic-comedy feature film written and directed by Alex Pugsley. [1] The film was released by Video Services Corporation in Canada in September 2014 and was released in the United States in March 2016.

Contents

Plot

A group of thirty-something Toronto friends and so-called friends try to navigate the world of love, romance and relationships, often within the context of those friendships and so-called friendships. The so-called ones are often in only a case of needing to maintain some sense of harmony in light of other friendships or relationships within the group. Included within the group are a married couple, a long-term couple (fifteen years) perhaps on the verge of marriage, some exes, some singles looking for love without success, some singles who may have found love already that hasn't or haven't worked out, and some players who aren't looking for love but only their next sex partner. And more often than not, each person, regardless of what their life looks like from the outside, is looking for something else besides what they have.

Cast

Production

The film was cast in October–November 2012 and shot in December 2012 over fourteen days and thirty-one locations in the Dundas-Ossington area.

Release

The film premiered at the 2014 Calgary International Film Festival. The film has also screened at the 2014 Vancouver International Film Festival, the 2015 Kingston Canadian Film Festival, and the 2015 Newport Beach Film Festival.

Critical reception

Dirty Singles has received generally positive reviews from critics.

Eric Volmers of the Calgary Herald writes, "Dirty Singles works because it is believable, written with an ear for natural dialogue, and performed seamlessly by the cast." [2]

Steve Gow of the Metro News comments that "Dirty Singles is a well-balanced movie that’s reminiscent of such multi-layered rom-coms as Love Actually and Crazy Stupid Love.". [3]

"The characters are real people," remarks Jude Klassen in Movie Entertainment Magazine, "sometimes gorgeous, and sometimes a little hung-over and defeated. The dialogue is deadly sharp without being overtly honed, a credit to both the writing and the acting." [4]

And Bruce DeMara of the Toronto Star , in a three-out-of-four starred review, writes, "The dialogue crackles throughout with profanity, wisecracks and well-observed truisms as the players variously grapple with infidelity, STDs and achieving orgasm." [5]

Reviewers consistently singled out the performances of Lauren Ash and Ennis Esmer, who were nominated for multiple awards for their performances as Carol and Sean, winning Best Female Performance in a Feature and Best Male Performance in a Feature respectively at the 2015 Canadian Comedy Awards.

Prizes and awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy Crewson</span> Canadian actress

Wendy Jane Crewson is a Canadian actress and producer. She began her career appearing on Canadian television, before her breakthrough role in 1991 dramatic film The Doctor.

Eric Neal Peterson is a Canadian stage, television, and film actor, known for his roles in three major Canadian television series – Street Legal (1987–1994), Corner Gas, and This is Wonderland (2004–2006).

The ACTRA Awards were first presented in 1972 to celebrate excellence in Canada's television and radio industries. Organized and presented by the Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists, which represented performers, writers and broadcast journalists, the Nellie statuettes were presented annually until 1986. They were the primary national television award in Canada until 1986, when they were taken over by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to create the new Gemini Awards, although ACTRA continued to present Nellies in radio categories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shauna MacDonald (Canadian actress)</span> Canadian actress

Shauna MacDonald is a Canadian television and film actress, director, producer, writer, voice actor, and radio announcer. She became known for her role as the national continuity announcer for CBC Radio One.

Mump and Smoot are a Canadian clown duo created by Michael Kennard and John Turner, and directed by Karen Hines. Also referred to as 'clowns of horror', they've produced interactive, improvisational plays aimed squarely at adult audiences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Comedy Awards</span> National awards for performed comedy

The Canadian Comedy Awards (CCA) is an annual ceremony that awards the Beaver for achievements in Canadian comedy in live performance, radio, film, television, and Internet media. The awards were founded and produced by Tim Progosh in 2000.

Peter James Edward Oldring is a Canadian actor and comedian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ennis Esmer</span> Turkish-Canadian actor and comedian

Ennis Esmer is a Turkish-Canadian actor, comedian, voice actor, writer, producer and presenter. He is best known for his roles as Osman 'Oz' Bey in The Listener, Kurtis 'Maz' Mazhari in Private Eyes, Nash in Red Oaks, and as Rich Dotcom in Blindspot – a role that was specifically written for him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicolas Wright</span> Canadian actor (born 1982)

Nicolas Wright is a Canadian actor. Wright has performed on stage, television and film. In 2004, he received the "most promising newcomer" award at the Just for Laughs film festival in Montreal for his short film, Toutouffe. Recently he appeared in Mike Clattenburg's 2011 film Afghan Luke. He appeared in 2016 film Independence Day: Resurgence.

<i>Young People Fucking</i> 2007 film by Martin Gero

Young People Fucking is a 2008 Canadian sex comedy film directed by Martin Gero, who co-wrote it with Aaron Abrams. The film's story is told in a linear fashion, alternating through a series of single-location vignettes connected by theme but with characters representing different archetypes. In each vignette, the characters try to have an evening of uncomplicated sex but are unable to separate sex from love.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoie Palmer</span> Canadian actress

Zoie Palmer is a Canadian actress best known for her roles as Dr. Lauren Lewis in the supernatural drama Lost Girl and as the Android in the science fiction series Dark Matter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Canning</span> Canadian actress

Sara Canning is a Canadian actress. She co-starred on The CW television series The Vampire Diaries as Jenna Sommers, and appeared in the 2009 feature film, Black Field. She starred as Dylan Weir in the Canadian television series, Primeval: New World, and as Dr. Melissa Conner on the Global medical drama Remedy. Canning appeared in the 2017 theatrical film War for the Planet of the Apes. She is also known for her role as Jacquelyn Scieszka in the Netflix TV series A Series of Unfortunate Events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Screen Awards</span> Canadian media awards

The Canadian Screen Awards are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media productions. Given annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, the awards recognize excellence in cinematic achievements, as assessed by the Academy's voting membership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauren Ash</span> Canadian actress and comedian (b. 1983)

Lauren Elizabeth Ash is a Canadian actress, musician, and comedian. Ash is best known among television audiences for her role as Dina Fox on the sitcom Superstore. She is also an alumna of both Second City Toronto Mainstage and is one half of the sketch comedy duo "Cory!". She is a two-time Canadian Comedy Award winner for Best Female Improviser in 2006 and 2007 and has also won for Best Performance by a Female - Television for Almost Heroes in 2012 and in 2015 won Best Female Performance in a Feature Film for her role as Carol in the film Dirty Singles. Since 2020, Lauren co-hosts her own podcast, "True Crime and Cocktails" along with her cousin, Christy Oxborrow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Mills (director)</span> Canadian film director, screenwriter and actor

Kevin Patrick Mills is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and actor, whose feature film debut Guidance was released in 2015.

<i>Two 4 One</i> 2014 Canadian film

Two 4 One is a 2014 Canadian comedy-drama film that marks the debut of Victoria, British Columbia filmmaker Maureen Bradley. The film stars Gavin Crawford as Adam, a trans man who agrees to have a one-night stand with his ex-girlfriend Miriam during which he uses a mail order at-home pregnancy kit to artificially inseminate her with donated sperm. However, an accident during the encounter leaves both Adam and Miriam pregnant, forcing Adam, who has not yet completed the surgical phase of his gender transition, to confront the ways in which the pregnancy will influence his sense of gender identity.

Karen Robinson is a British-Canadian film, television, and stage actress. She won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance in a Guest Role in a Drama Series at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for her appearance on the television series Mary Kills People. She also won a 2021 Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the Schitt's Creek cast.

The Go-Getters is a 2018 Canadian comedy film, directed by Jeremy Lalonde. The film stars Aaron Abrams and Tommie-Amber Pirie as Owen and Lacie, an aimless alcoholic and a prostitute in Toronto who form an alliance to raise $98 to pay for two bus tickets out of town; however, due to their shared penchant for self-defeating behaviour, this seemingly simple task proves more difficult for them to achieve than they planned.

Alex Pugsley is a Canadian writer and filmmaker, most noted for directing the 2014 film Dirty Singles.

Big News from Grand Rock is a Canadian comedy film, directed by Daniel Perlmutter and released in 2014.

References

  1. "Dirty Singles: Novelist, TV writer Pugsley turns director". Halifax Chronicle-Herald , November 13, 2014.
  2. "Rom-Com 101: Finding the Perfect Couples for Dirty Singles". The Calgary Herald . September 25, 2014.
  3. "Dirty Singles: Canadian rom-com celebrates Toronto as much as ensemble cast". Metro News . December 9, 2014.
  4. "Down and Dirty in Toronto". Movie Entertainment Magazine. December 14, 2014. Archived from the original on February 5, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  5. "Reel Brief: Mini reviews of Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine, Siddharth, The Wrecking Crew and Dirty Singles". Toronto Star . February 19, 2015.