Downhill Willie

Picked up this video at a local outlet, it was on the 'two for a dollar' rack and I needed a second movie to make the deal. Considering that I've already seen "Downhill Racer", "Hot Dog", "Ski Patrol", and "Reno and the Doc" (and others whose names escape me), I figured that at worst it was just going to be more of the same.

Well, frankly, it was; but how many different ways can someone film people skiing downhill without it becoming predictable? I was pleasantly surprised to find this Canadian offering to be fairly tight and well-written (the hour and a half was done before I realized) as well as mildly amusing. As a skier myself -- you can't ride a bike in Wisconsin all year round -- I could appreciate the skiing scenes, and the attitudes portrayed by a couple of the characters (especially the super-skier 'Spider') were definitely spot-on.

All in all, it's not a great movie. Five out of ten is, in my opinion, the mark for an average film. And of course, unless you live in Canada, you've probably never heard of any of the cast members. But if you enjoyed the antics in "Ski Patrol" or "Hot Dog: The Movie", you would probably also enjoy giving this film a look.