By John Corrado

★★★ (out of 4)

The latest from Canadian director Jeremy LaLonde, The Go-Getters is a dirty and raunchy low-budget comedy that follows Owen (Aaron Abrams) and Lacie (Tommie-Amber Pirie).

The former is a drunkard living in the boiler room of his brother’s (Kristian Bruun) bar, and the latter a drug-addicted hooker whom he first encounters passed out on the bathroom floor. Despite butting heads, Owen and Lacie are spurred on by their shared hatred of Toronto, and hatch a plan to go live at her grandma’s rundown home in Brockville, which they plan to fix up.

But they don’t have any money between them, so they start coming up with a variety of hair-brained schemes in an attempt to make some quick cash, desperately trying to track down the $98 that they need for bus tickets.

The result is a wild, ribald, and often unpredictable mismatched buddy comedy, that I found quite entertaining to watch unfold. The simplistic nature of the plot allows for plenty of hijinks throughout the brisk eighty minute running time, and the film plays with a mix of quirky character humour and cringe comedy, including a gross but shockingly hilarious scene involving a DIY glory hole.

It’s carried by a pair of go-for-broke performances from Aaron Abrams and Tommie-Amber Pirie, who throw themselves into the premise and completely run with it. Also watch out for brief cameos from other Canadian indie stars, including Jonas Chernick and Ennis Esmer.

The Go-Getters is now playing in limited release at the Carlton Cinema in Toronto.

A version of this review was originally published during the 2018 Canadian Film Fest.