By M. Faust

(Photo above: Billy Bob Thornton, Mike Smith – as Bubbles – and Ron Wood)

I’m a big fan of Canadian comedy—I was thrilled to be able to attend a Kids in the Hall reunion show in Toronto a few weeks back—but try as I might I have never been able to develop a taste for “Trailer Park Boys,” maybe the biggest comic success ever from our northern neighbors. 

It’s been around in one form or another since 1999, including twelve TV series, an animated series, four feature films, and a handful of specials and live shows. (You can see all of them on Netflix.) It follows the squalid, mostly illegal exploits of three residents of a trailer park in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. 

Filmed in the same mockumentary style as “The Office” (which it preceded), the show is largely improvised from a scripted plotline. That kind of thing is great when it works, but that only happens with people skilled at the process, which is not the case with the cast of TPB. 

Their newest spin-off film, Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties, focuses primarily on Bubbles, the oddest of the trio. His nickname comes from the thick eyeglasses that cause his eyes to appear magnified. (Canada must be the one country that hasn’t moved to plastic lenses.) His perpetual facial expression—outthrust jaw, pursed lips—reminds me of Jerri Blank, the character Amy Sidaris used to play on the show “Strangers with Candy”: it’s gotta be uncomfortable holding that face while the camera is rolling. 

Bubbles is played by Mike Smith, who was once the guitarist in the Canadian indie band Sandbox. (If you listen to Canadian radio, you might remember their song “Curious.”) Bubbles also plays music, but his taste runs more toward country, with songs like “Liquor and Whores,” “Breakfast Beer” and (my favorite) “Home is Where Your Shed Is.” 

The film’s plot, and I use that word loosely, follows Bubbles as he puts together a band, the Shitrockers. (If you took all the profanity out of any given TPB product, you’d cut the running time by half.) A clip of them performing at a prison goes viral and comes to the attention of Billy Bob Thornton, who is getting ready to tour Europe and signs them up as his opening act. Hey, it could happen. 

Comic problems ensue, many of them revolving around Bubbles’ tendency to become incontinent when nervous.

Did I mention Randy, the trailer park employee whom Bubbles hires to be the band’s roadie, played by an actor with an enormous beer gut that you can’t possibly ignore because he never once puts on a shirt? It’s a running gag that occasionally threatens to become funny when the band is at a European airport or on the streets of Liverpool, but mostly I just felt bad for the guy. 

All of this culminates in a scene at the Abbey Road studios in which (I won’t even try to explain how) Bubbles gets to record the title song with the aid of a rock orchestra that includes Ronnie Wood, Rick Nielsen, Duff McKagan, Eric Burdon, Carmen Vandenberg and a lot of people swaying back and forth. I guess it’s supposed to remind us of the video of “Hey Jude” or maybe ‘We Are the World.” But those were actual songs, whereas this is just a bunch of people singing “A kitties love is all it takes, la la la la la la,” over and over and over. 

Trailer Park mainstays Ricky (Robb Wells) and Julian (John Paul Tremblay) pop up for a few scenes, but it’s mostly Bubbles’ movie — Smith also wrote it. I suspect that Thornton (billed as the executive producer) was responsible for rounding up the musicians for the big finale. Come to think of it, Bubbles does look and sound a bit like the character Billy Bob played in Sling Blade. Maybe they’re related? 

Nothing is more subjective than humor, and I understand that these characters are very popular with a lot of people. To me it’s just too much time (almost two hours) spent with one-note actors who rely on mugging, profanity and weird voices. (If you remember Joe Flaherty’s impression of Kirk Douglas on SCTV, that’s what Bubbles sounds like.) If you’re a fan, I’m happy to be able to let you know that you can see this on the big screen at the North Park theater (but only until Christmas Eve.) Me, I’m still hoping for a new Bob and Doug MacKenzie movie.