New Waterford Girl

Rating:
Summary: Quirky fun
Review: A thoroughly enjoyable comedy, set in Cape Breton, in which the rebelliously strange Moonie Pottie tries to escape her small town life. Hampered on all sides by her family, peers, and everyone else in town, Moonie figures the only way out is to pretend to be pregnant-- so she'll be sent away to have the child.
What follows is an unusual, subtle, and charming story, featuring plenty of great characters: Moonie's best friend Lou from New York, who finds acceptance in New Waterford by punching out the local girls philandering boyfriends; Cecil Sweeney, the local high school teacher, who is completely besotted with Moonie, and lives off the leftover chile she brings him; the priest, who dreads his hours the confessional and dreams of having long hair and a little terrier; the doctor with a perpetually bleeding hand...and so on. The cast are all great, ranging from unknowns Liane Balaban and Tara Spencer-Nairn, to well known Canadian actors Nicholas Campbell and Mary Walsh (hilarious as Moonie's parents).
The type of movie you like to see more than once, to get all the little jokes.

Rating:
Summary: Quirky fun
Review: A thoroughly enjoyable comedy, set in Cape Breton, in which the rebelliously strange Moonie Pottie tries to escape her small town life. Hampered on all sides by her family, peers, and everyone else in town, Moonie figures the only way out is to pretend to be pregnant-- so she'll be sent away to have the child.
What follows is an unusual, subtle, and charming story, featuring plenty of great characters: Moonie's best friend Lou from New York, who finds acceptance in New Waterford by punching out the local girls philandering boyfriends; Cecil Sweeney, the local high school teacher, who is completely besotted with Moonie, and lives off the leftover chile she brings him; the priest, who dreads his hours the confessional and dreams of having long hair and a little terrier; the doctor with a perpetually bleeding hand...and so on. The cast are all great, ranging from unknowns Liane Balaban and Tara Spencer-Nairn, to well known Canadian actors Nicholas Campbell and Mary Walsh (hilarious as Moonie's parents).
The type of movie you like to see more than once, to get all the little jokes.

Rating:
Summary: Trying to Leave
Review: Mooney Pottie is an eccentric, teenage, odd duck in the small Irish-Catholic town of New Waterford on Cape Breton, Nova Scotia---a town where the mere mention of the Blessed Virgin will stop a sinner "in his tracks". Played to perfection by Liane Balaban, Mooney is determined to escape from her small-town life by any means possible (including cleverly trying to get herself a false bad reputation and then planning to tell her parents she is pregnant so they will send her away).

Mooney befriends a new neighbor, Lou (played with brilliant perfection by Tara Spencer-Nairn) after an initial period of wariness at this transplanted New Yorker's enthusiasm for New Waterford.

This comedy reveals its quirky twist in the first scene, a wedding and funeral being held at the same time in the local Catholic church. The pregnant bride shares the altar with her father's casket - showing the inherent thrift of the locals! Of course, sorting out the sympathy and wedding cards becomes a bit of a problem.

The authenticity of the script can be attributed to the fact that it was written by a woman who actually lived in New Waterford in the 70s, the time in which the movie is set.

Despite her desire to get out, we see the beautiful, if rough, vista of Nova Scotia through Mooney's eyes and realize the pull this incredible coastal area has on her.

A delightful film---every actor does a fine job and the coastal settings are spectacular.

Rating:
Summary: Teen Girls Will Love It
Review: Quirky provincials Canadian style highlight New Waterford Girl. Apparently the southern United States has been spared the you-alls and we get Cape Breton brogues to make fun of. Liane Balaban, Mooney is smarter than her neighbors and family. She yearns to get out of the desolate coastal mining town she wanders in a daze.

It is hard to date this pictures' era, but I'm guessing, because all the cars look like rusted late 60's, the boy's hair-do's are over the ears, and because the music played at the local teen beer bash are from 8-tracks, Mooney and her new girlfriend from the States, Tara Spencer-Naim, are living in late 70's, maybe early 80's.

Quirkiness requires exaggeration. Moony's dad has a funeral and a wedding together to save money. Moony is told by her family to forget her dreams and be like them, accepting of small town life. Tara comes into Mooney's world and they go on a drinking, boy kissing, cad-bashing spree. Are any of the convolutions of this plot realistic? No, but we do sympathize with Moony's desire to get to New York City. This is a sweet movie with some cursing, and teen girls will love it.