Not-so-clever caper still a fun time

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This article was published 08/12/2017 (3075 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When a significant character shows up on screen in the Winnipeg-shot crime caper Stegman Is Dead, his name is boldly superimposed on the screen. It’s a sign co-writer/director David Hyde was clearly influenced by the London-based crime comedies of early Guy Ritchie, especially Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

The suspicion is confirmed by Hyde’s Ritchie-esque treatment of timelines, beginning his film in the middle with would-be master thief Gus (Michael Eklund) pacing outside a wintry suburban McMansion — the home of titular porn producer Stegman. Gus’s former boss Don (Michael Ironside) has sent him there to find videotapes that incriminate the whole gang.

The problem: there has already been loud criminal activity in the house and the police are on the scene, along with a loose-cannon gangster named Sergei (David Brown) and a mysterious Asian woman named Evy (Bernice Liu) who is either a porn performer or a professional assassin.

From here, the film dipsy-doodles with the narrative, jumping backward and forward to explain various backstories — particularly related to Gus, who has left Don’s stable of ne’er-do-wells.

Yes, having abandoned his life of crime, Gus is now a devoted father to daughter Angela (Linnea Moffat) and semi-devoted husband to his argumentative wife Diane (Andrea del Campo).

But that doesn’t mean he is going straight.

In fact, Diane actually is suggesting he should aspire to be a better thief than he is.

But Gus learns his career could be over before it’s really begun, unless he secures those videotapes.

To complicate matters, the tapes are also being sought by Don’s reprobate sons (J. Adam Brown and Aidan Ritchie), an idiotic safecracker (Arne MacPherson) and a brutal killer (Stephen McIntyre) who shows up to his assignment ominously armed with a sledge hammer.

So, yes, the movie is plenty derivative, as one might expect of a young first-time feature filmmaker who has yet to find his own voice. (Hyde is indeed a first-time feature filmmaker, but he is also in his early 50s, so he let’s just say he gets a suspended sentence with a stern warning.)

Fortunately, Hyde proves to be a solid director otherwise — and he gives the film more than its share of unsavoury kicks. Eklund, usually more of a dangerous, brooding presence in films, has some fun with a role that plays down the menace, especially in his character’s interactions with his daughter. And of course, it’s always fun to see Ironside getting down with his bad self.

The female roles are problematic. Diane is a naggy wife. Evy is all cool killer cunning. Both roles are underwritten and it’s a bit of a miracle that both actresses rise above them, with improv specialist del Campo finding the funny in a character too easily written off as a harridan and Liu managing to layer a little soulfulness in a role that runs the risk of being just another sexy badass.

Weirdly, the film has some appeal for Winnipeg theatregoers accustomed to seeing performers such ase del Campo, Ross McMillan and Paul Essiembre on city stages.

For all the films that are shot here, it remains a relatively rare experience to see deserving local actors getting a decent shot at big-screen opportunities. In that capacity, Stegman is very much alive.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @FreepKing