Cruising Bar

I'm really digging deep this time, folks. I managed to find a copy of the 1989 film, Cruising Bar, in my local Videotron Super Club store yesterday. I had heard about it during my first summer at L'école de langue française de Trois Pistoles. Apparently l'animateur of the film atelier absolutely LOVED this film and made sure to play it at every session. As it turns out, he finally got a group that found the film offensive. Check that. There was ONE girl in the atelier that found it offensive and she raised Hell about it. Needless to say, I had to pick it up.

I'll give it a bit of leeway because it was made in the 80s, but I think this film reaches new levels of cheesiness. The first thing that struck me was that, at least in terms of shooting style, this film felt like Mallrats, complete with the really bad slapstick comedy. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Kevin Smith and his films. I own copies of most of them. I'm also really looking forward to seeing Clerks 2 when it hits theatres, but I still shake my head when I think of some of the silliness he put out in Mallrats.

Cruising Bar is the story of 4 very different guys: Jean-Jacques, Gerard, Serge and Beaudoin. It's Saturday night and these guys are hitting the bars of Montreal to pick up. Each is a caricature of the highest order. Jean-Jacques is a strutting peacock yuppy, Gerard is a cheating husband on the make, Serge is an awkward geek and Beaudoin is a brainless TV production assistant with a wicked 80s mullet. In watching the film, I wondered why the characters never shared any scenes together or what their connection might be. This is where I win the prize for obliviousness: Each of the main characters are played by the SAME ACTOR. I can see how they won a special award for makeup design in 1990.

Aside from that, there's really not too much to the film. The obligatory eye candy slot is filled by Geneviève Rioux, who was damn hot back in the day, but if you're looking for bouncing tits in this one, you'll be sorely disappointed. Overall, I can't say I would recommend this film. I didn't hate it, but by the same token, I can see how it's gone virtually unnoticed on the cinematic landscape. Til next time...