This. That. No Other.

“There’s something wrong with the world.”

Ryan Reynolds makes an unnerving discovery in The Nines.

So, take supersexy Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and give him three meaty roles in a nifty, existentialist puzzle of a movie called The Nines. Add indie darlings Hope Davis and Melissa McCarthy and give them three meaty roles each. Take a script by (openly-gay,) acclaimed writer John August (Go, Big Fish) and give him the opportunity to make his directorial debut and what do you get?

For most people, based on the reviews collected at RottenTomatoes, what you get is a real head-scratcher. For Canadian film distributors? Poison. Canadians weren’t allowed to see The Nines in theatres, possibly for the same reason we never saw (the original) Donnie Darko or Southland Tales: film distributors in Canada are idiots. Or they think we Canadians are idiots, which only makes the distributors more idiotic.

So we wait until it’s available on DVD, which happened yesterday. And I recommend it highly.

Now, let’s get a few things out of the way. Firstly, Ryan Reynolds is a really, really attractive guy. You simply can’t talk about Ryan Reynolds without dealing with that fact. Secondly, as a superattractive guy, any discussion of his talent, pro or con, is gonna be suspect. Thirdly, I’ve mentioned this before, but being an atheist can really fuck up your appreciation for popular culture.

After the jump, let’s deal with all of these things. It’ll be mildly spoilery — you’ve been warned, though it’s really no more spoilery than many of the reviews available online — but there’ll also be even sexier photos than the one above. I dare ya...

Okay, let’s get these out of the way first:

Ryan Reynolds in The Nines

There. You’ve now seen all the beefcake from the movie so we can talk about the other stuff that makes it worth seeing. In just a mo. I want to study those obliques and rectus abdominus for a few more hours minutes.

And here’s the trailer which, like most trailers you watch after you’ve seen the movie, simultaneously hypes only minor themes and seems to give far too much away. Click PLAY at your virginal peril. Really, if you’ve already decided to see it, I think you should resist.

Ryan Reynolds is really good in this. It’s not an “important” film — it’s too light-hearted for that — though it most certainly deals with important themes. And being non-”important” means that we can’t automatically describe Reynold’s performances as “tour de force”, though he does a fine, fine job as:

• a perplexed, TV action star, under house arrest for various minor criminal infractions
• a frustrated, fussy (equals gay!) TV writer (the owner of the above house) starring in a reality TV show about the creation of a television mystery series about a father gone missing
• the loving father (who also happens to be a videogame designer) from the aforementioned TV mystery series

As you might expect, each of these three stories, told sequentially, seep into each other until they fold together in a tightly-designed puzzle. Hope Davis and Melissa McCarthy play femmes fatale and sympatico, respectively, in each of the three stories. Or do they?

The Nines is one of those movies which is likable on first viewing and quite lovable on second. The sleight-of-hand in the storytelling is a bit frayed in places but mostly impenetrable, or impenetrable enough. It deals with spiritual themes, too, though this brand of spirituality tilts closer to the so-called Seth Material than more conventional faiths. If you’ve been reading these posts, you already know I’m unrepentantly atheist. So why should this movie appeal to someone like me?

Well, the performances are top-notch, especially Reynolds’, and that can overcome a lot of religious puffery. It deals with identity, creation and the creative process — all of Reynolds’ characters are creators of some sort or another — and that holds a relentless appeal, too. And it’s non-canonical, which puts it in the class of other irreverent works dealing with faith, like Angels in America — which I watched again yesterday (sniff) — though certainly it lacks the scope, sweep and gravitas of AiA.

The Rapture, Michael Tolkin’s unsettling story of a woman who can’t believe in god (even when she absolutely wants to) used to be one of my favourite movies but is no longer, I think because it’s so dogmatic in its approach to the material. As I reject faith and unreason ever more completely, the terror of faithlessness seems not terrifying at all.

The Nines, while not striving for the enormity of Tolkin’s movie’s themes, manages to succeed through its whimsy, its cleverness and its audaciously playful theosophy. It’s all poppycock, of course, but some poppycock is simply not as rancid as the other, and August’s recipe is actually pretty tasty. It’s as smart and as sassy as you are. The Nines gets a 9 from this 7.

Addenda:
Fun Fact About The Nines: In the movie, one of Ryan Reynolds’ characters — the frustrated television writer, Gavin — is trying to get a show called “Knowing” off the ground, with filming in Toronto. This is a not-even-vague reference to John August’s experience with the failed television show “D.C.”, which was actually filmed in Toronto. And one of the filming locations for “D.C.” was the house next door to where I lived in 2000.
Another Fun Thing to Do: By all means, check out the DVD extras, which include a short film by August and McCarthy called god, which is not only a very cool backstory for one of her characters in The Nines but just, plain, fucking hilarious.