''The Suburbanators'' is a Canadian

road movie A road movie is a film genre in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the theme of alienatio ...

/comedy film written and directed by Gary Burns and produced in 1995 by Burns and John Hazlett. It tells the story of bored, estranged

slacker A slacker is someone who habitually avoids work or lacks work ethic. Origin According to different sources, the term ''slacker'' dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the British Gezira Scheme in the early ...

s in their 20s who spend their time in suburban strip-malls, subdivisions and car lots in Calgary. The film was made for CDN$65,000. It was invited to play at the Sundance Film Festival and sold to the

Sundance Channel Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV, formerly known as Sundance Channel (United States). * Sundance Channel (Canada) * Sundance Channel (Netherlands) * Sundance Channel (Europe) Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV, formerly kno ...

.Melnyk, George.''One Hundred Years of Canadian Cinema''. University of Toronto Press, 2004. p. 220 It is the first of what writer George Melnyk calls a trilogy which concludes with '' Kitchen Party'' (1998) and ''

waydowntown ''Waydowntown'' (stylized as ''waydowntown'') is a 2000 film directed by Gary Burns and starring Fab Filippo, Don McKellar, Marya Delver and Michelle Beaudoin. The film is a dark comedy that explores office culture and its effects and often uses ...

'' (2000).

Plot

Bob and Al are passing time by driving around and looking for marijuana. In another part of town, two other young men, Eric and Carl, are also trying to buy drugs. A group of three musicians are at a Middle Eastern restaurant. They go to the suburbs to find a relative after they accidentally get their instruments locked up in an apartment. Carl starts a fight with a novelist and Eric almost gets arrested for drugs in a police raid and then Eric starts a fight with the musicians. Carl and Bob steal some drugs.

Cast

*Bob Stephen Spender ''as'' Bob *Joel McNichol ''as'' Al *Jacob Banigan ''as'' Eric *Stewart Burdett ''as'' Carl Musicians: * Jihad Traya * Ahmad Taha * Rogy Masri

Reception

''Variety'' noted the "sharp editing and tight control of actors" and the use of " eached colors, oblique camera angles and bargain-basement lighting". The film, which was aimed at male

Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years and the late 1970s to early 1980s a ...

viewers, showed the unromantic drabness and pettiness of life in the suburbs in Western Canada, a stark contrast to the majestic mountains often shown in postcards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suburbanators, The 1995 films Canadian drama road movies English-language Canadian films Films directed by Gary Burns Films shot in Calgary Films set in Calgary 1990s drama road movies 1990s Canadian films