One Week
The oft-travelled road trip movie receives a distinctly Canadian makeover in the occasionally frustrating, frequently enjoyable drama One Week, a movie that follows a young man on his cross country adventure from Toronto to Tofino. The story begins with protagonist Ben Tyler (Joshua Jackson) learning the devastating news that he has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. Suddenly, his brain is flooded with feelings of an inadequate life, as he ponders everything he has failed to accomplish in his instantly shortened lifespan.
Ben is an English teacher who abandoned his dream of becoming a writer after being hit by one too many rejections. Set to be married to his loving fiancée Samantha (the great Liane Balaban), he now begins to fear that his plan to settle down is a little like giving up. With all of these ideas and emotions overwhelming his mind, Ben buys a motorcycle on a whim and decides to ride it across Canada in hopes of finding whatever intangible thing he may be looking for.
The plot features the usual conflicts and resolutions that accompany stories about transformative road trips, but everything is done with a focus on Canada. Ben faces challenges in the way of bike malfunctions and accidents, but he continually meets friendly and inspirational people in the midst of their own journey. These meetings help lift his spirits and offer him a look at happiness through the eyes of a stranger. All the while, Ben is enveloped by the beauty and majesty of the Canadian wilderness. At times, the movie operates as a sort of travelogue showcasing the various areas of Canada.
But the expansive land is not the only aspect of Canada to receive attention. The movie is steeped in our culture and writer-director Michael McGowan never misses an opportunity to reference a recognizable icon. One Week is so dutifully Canadian that part of Ben's inspiration to head west is due to a message inscribed on the rim of a Tim Horton's cup. And that's not the only cup dear to Canadian hearts that makes a cameo appearance in the movie. At one point, Ben wanders through a seemingly empty ice rink, only to find the Stanley Cup perched at centre ice.
The movie is bursting with adoration for Canada and its love of our country is what gives the movie an often endearing identity. But while the spirit of the movie belongs to the nation, the story is ultimately focused on Ben. Disappointingly, this creates a considerable problem, because Ben is achingly difficult to connect with on an emotional level. I must commend McGowan for deliberately steering his movie away from obvious sentimentality, but his rather inspired approach to the material nearly unravels due to his lazily developed protagonist.
On the page, the character of Ben is already more of a collection of ideas and fears than a believable human being, but it is Joshua Jackson's flat performance that deserves the majority of the blame for Ben being so lifelessly one-dimensional. A truly capable actor could have brought a certain humanity and vulnerability to the role that perhaps would have transcended the character's shortcomings in the script, but Jackson is unable to carry the movie's dramatic weight in a remotely convincing manner.
In addition to Jackson's impersonal performance, an emotionally vacant voice-over narrates Ben's past and present throughout the movie and McGowan relies too heavily on the narration to provide character development and exposition. The voice-over work is delivered by Campbell Scott, who has a great voice, so the aural companion is at least easy to listen to, even as it separates us from the hero of the story. As with so many things in this movie, the bad is tied to some good. There is a spectacular revelation at the movie's end that justifies the narration, but by the time the truth is revealed, the damage has been done. The idea at the narration's core is incredibly rich, but its existence comes at a price.
Like Ben's life-altering journey across the country, One Week is filled with ups and downs. Jackson's performance is a dramatic flatline, but the charm of the surroundings and writer-director McGowan's refusal to travel down a sentimental road keep the movie from veering too far off course. As a celebration of all things Canadian (from the breathtaking geography to the lovable coffee and donut shops), the movie offers a pleasant journey down a familiar road. One Week does not redefine our national cinema, nor does it manage to strike an entirely effective emotional chord, but in its own little way, the movie works as a comfortably affectionate love letter to the greatness and grandeur of Canada.
