''Textuality'' is a 2011 Canadian romantic comedy film, directed by Warren P. Sonoda. An exploration of the impact of

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

on romance, the film stars Jason Lewis and

Carly Pope Carly Pope (born August 28, 1980) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles on The WB's drama series ''Popular'' (1999–2001), supernatural drama series ''The Collector'' (2004–2005), USA Network's legal drama series '' Suits'' ( ...

as Breslin and Simone, a financial advisor and an artist in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

who meet and begin to date while each is still navigating multiple casual relationships through e-mail, texting and social networking platforms.Norman Wilner
"Textuality"
''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'', April 21, 2011. The cast also includes

Eric McCormack Eric James McCormack (born April 18, 1963) is a Canadian-American actor and singer, known for his roles as Will Truman in the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', Grant MacLaren in Netflix's '' Travelers'' and Dr. Daniel Pierce in the TNT crime drama ...

Kris Holden-Ried Kris Holden-Ried (born August 1, 1973) is a Canadian actor. Early life and pentathlon Holden-Ried was born in Pickering, Ontario. He studied at Montreal's Concordia University School of Business. He was a champion competitor in riding and fen ...

Kristen Hager Kristen Hager is a Canadian actress. She co-starred in films '' Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' (2007) and '' Wanted'' (2008), and played Leslie Van Houten in the independent film ''Leslie, My Name Is Evil'' (2009). From 2011 to 2014, Hager starr ...

, Holly Elissa,

Supinder Wraich Supinder Wraich ( ) is an Indian-born Canadian actress. She is most noted for her starring roles in the web series '' Guidestones'', for which she won the Canadian Screen Award for Performance in a Program or Series Produced for Digital Media a ...

Anna Cyzon Anna Cyzon (born Anna Czyszczoń in Kraków, Poland), is a Polish-Canadian recording artist, actress, former Canadian MTV/ etalk personality and co-host of the Todd Shapiro show on Sirius Satellite Radio. Career Cyzon's career in the media began ...

and Renee Percy. The film premiered in Toronto in April 2011.

Critical response

The film was not well received by critics. Norman Wilner of ''

'' wrote that "No point mincing words: Textuality is a sorry excuse for a romantic comedy. The characters are one-dimensional, the script is banal, and the social media angle the movie works so hard to establish in its opening reel isn’t even relevant to the plot in the end. In that opening reel, though, Textuality flirts with the notion that texting, Facebooking and blogging push people even further away from engaging with one another in the real world. (It’s nothing

Andy Rooney Andrew Aitken Rooney (January 14, 1919 – November 4, 2011) was an American radio and television writer who was best known for his weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney", a part of the CBS News program '' 60 Minutes'' from 1978 to 201 ...

didn’t say about the VCR, the answering machine or the cellular phone back in the day, but it’s still an intriguing idea for a movie.) But this is not that movie. Textuality’s script, written by co-star Liam Card, just rehashes ancient rom-com tropes and throws in a few Twitter references to seem contemporary." For the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', Chris Knight wrote that "The dialogue is deadly. The settings are dreary. Aside from Simone's attractive boudoir, the film features impromptu conversations in a supermarket, on a treadmill, in a change room, at a dinner party, in the bath, after the bath, in a bowling alley and at an art gallery. Of course, some of these conversations also take place over

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

s (hence the film's clever punning title), but the text-message angle adds nothing to the drama." He concluded that "The overall effect of the film is like an independent, lowbudget

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...

, only with far less sex and, to be honest, not nearly as much city." For the

Sun Media Sun Media Corporation was the owner of several tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in Canada and the 49 percent owner of the now defunct Sun News Network. It was a subsidiary of Quebecor Media. On October 6, 2014, Quebecor Media announced the sal ...

chain, Liz Braun was more charitable, writing that "Textuality may not rise much above its genre, but the movie does have some laugh out loud moments and a bit of sizzling dialogue." She subsequently called attention to the fact that the movie's best lines all came from Mike, the character played by the film's screenwriter Liam Card.Liz Braun, "Textuality your standard rom-com, with gadgets". ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

'', April 22, 2011.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2011 films 2011 comedy films Canadian romantic comedy films English-language Canadian films Films shot in Toronto Films set in Toronto Films directed by Warren P. Sonoda 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films