Old Stock (James Genn, 2012): Canada

Reviewed by Jacob Dekker.  Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2013.

“Growing old is mandatory.  Growing up is optional,” is the tagline for James Genn’s Old Stock.  Set in Canada this film is primarily a coming of age story.  As the tagline hints to the film is about a young man named Stock living with his grandfather in a retirement during a transitional phase in his life.

Our young protagonist Stock, played by Noah Reid, leads a pretty average life except he lives in a retirement home with his grandfather.  He partakes in a lot of activities that older men do, and he even takes medicine you would expect an elderly person to take.  Things seem to going great for young Stock until he is forced to move out of the retirement home and pursue a life outside of the home.  Reluctantly, he moves out and tries to find himself.  Throughout the film you might find yourself chuckling at parts, but if you are looking for a laugh-out-loud comedy you probably won’t get that in Old Stock.  Instead, by the second half the film attempts to pull at the viewers heart strings with some dramatic moments, realizations, and romances that the characters are faced with.  Some of this works, and some of it does not.

There is no denying that this is a smart and well put together film, but a lot of the supporting characters fall into stereotypical roles that one has come to expect from independent romantic comedies.  Girl with weird hobbies or quirks–check, girl who dies her hair strange colors–check,  awkward protagonist–check, and the list goes on.  Some of the dramatic moments felt forced, and Stock’s love story was bland and unoriginal.  It reminded me of Juno without the witty charm.  Despite these hiccups Noah Reid did an excellent job with the character Stock, and the soft, but colorful mise-en-scene really brings him to life.  He is a very interesting character with a rich backstory.  His subtle shifts from dramatic to comical work well, and he does it very convincingly.  Near the end, the film tries to throw a couple curveballs at the viewer, but they were either so obvious I did not care or they had to do with characters who just weren’t interesting.

Even with all the negatives I still found this film is still enjoyable.  While it didn’t offer anything fresh to the genre it still has it’s laughs. And though it may not stick with you for long; it’s not a bad way to spend an hour and a half