Everything's Gone Green

Bestselling Canadian author Douglas Coupland’s first screenplay, Everything’s Gone Green, is an enjoyable, low-key comedy. Coupland, best known for his novels Generation X, Microserfs and Jpod, has managed to convincingly adapt his unique brand of pop culture insight and off-kilter humour to the big screen, though some of the subtle wit of his prose does get lost in translation. In the first five minutes, Ryan (Paulo Costanzo), a 29-year-old slacker, is dumped by his girlfriend, looses his job and almost wins the lottery. Rebounding quickly from his morning of disappointments, Ryan finds work as a writer at a lottery winners magazine. After a series of odd incidents, Ryan finds himself caught up in a money laundering scam involving the sleazy boyfriend of his unrequited crush Ming (Steph Song) and the Yakuza. The DVD is light on extras, though it does include an interesting commentary track by Douglas Coupland and director Paul Fox, and a few extended scenes. Paulo Costanzo (Road Trip, Joey) gives a solid performance as an aimless twenty-something, managing to convey the bemused wonder of a Coupland protagonist without falling into the easy trap of appearing smug and condescending. This film should appeal to the people of the Great White North as, like many of Coupland’s novels, Everything’s Gone Green is unapologetically Canadian, containing many little in-jokes and references to life in Vancouver (including the long-standing tradition of using the west coast city as a film stand-in for American cities). If you’re a fan of Coupland’s novels, or are in the mood for a smart, light comedy, Everything’s Gone Green is worth a watch.