SAINT RALPH
Directed & Written by: Michael McGowan.
Produced by: Seaton McLean, Andrea Mann, Mike Souther & Teza Lawrence.
Director of Photography: Rene Ohashi.
Edited by: Susan Maggi.
Music by: Andrew Lockington.
Released by: Samuel Goldwyn.
Country of Origin: Canada. 98 min. Rated: PG-13.
With: Adam Butcher, Campbell Scott, Gordon Pinsent, Jennifer Tilly & Tamara Hope.

Ralph, a scrappy fourteen-year-old, takes to heart being told it would take a miracle to draw his mother out of her coma. When Father Hibbert tells him it would be miracle if he won the Boston Marathon, Ralph connects the dots and concocts an unwieldy plan to her. Luckily for him, Father Hibbert happens to be Canada's best Olympic runner who only stopped running because he was told clergymen could not also be athletes.

Instead of explaining what happens next, let me ask you. Do you think Ralph and Father Hibbert reach spiritual growth and self-awareness by believing in their abilities and acting from their faith? And do you think Ralph's mother wakes up from her hospital bed in this whimsical Christian coming-of-age story? I assure you, this plot, set in the 1950s, is not ingenious or startling. But what may actually surprise you is that this movie triumphs over triteness that a shameful plot like this would normally guarantee. By teetering between tearjerker, Bildungsroman, and unpredictable comedy, this jaunty Canadian family flick is actually enjoyable - and rather funny.

But the tonal fence-straddling detracts from any real emotional depth other than the film's inevitable closing pay-off. Writer/director Michael McGowan strays too far into the absurd to root emotional links in his characters, relying instead on their built-in (if formulaic) charisma and the excellent acting that makes sure these lighthearted characters are human when the screenwriting falls short. Were it not for the earnest twitchiness of Adam Butcher (Ralph) and Campbell Scott (Father Hibbert), the suitably over-the-top love interest Tamara Hope, and the affectionately stern solidity of Gordon Pinsett (the tyrannical superintendent, Father Fitzpatrick), Saint Ralph would be left only with its moral messages that drop at the subtle velocity of asteroids and plot points that even the deaf can hear as tinny and hollow. Some heavy-handed music by Andrew Lockington aside, Saint Ralph avoids as many clichés as it stumbles into while still managing to break even. Zachary Jones
August 5, 2005