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Shoot to Marry
Canada 2020
produced by Steve Markle, Andrew Thomas Hunt (executive) for Eggplant Picture & Sound
directed by Steve Markle
starring Steve Markle, Erin Wotherspoon, Kate Kelton, Colleen Osborne, Jaime Saibil, Jack Markle, Arlene Markle, Sofi Papamarko, Jade Lane, Jana Matthews, Danielle Bar, Ally Walsh, Goddess, Hanifa Sekandi, Lisa Messinger, Siobhan McPherson, Lauren Mahoney, Emilie Gagnon, Miriam Abrahams, Carlie Ritch, Kia Park, Bruce Walker, January Teichert, Heidi Lee
written by Steve Markle
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Documentary filmmaker Steve Markle has been left by his girlfriend, and
pretty much upon him proposing, too - and that has left him heartbroken,
since for him, the way to true happiness has always been through marriage.
And obviously, he can't marry without a girlfriend - but he's not very
good at the whole dating thing. So he does what he figures every good
documentary filmmaker would do in his situation, to shoot a film about his
looking for the ideal woman. Via his documentary, he figures, he might
also attract the right kind of women. And after a few misfires, he
actually finds lovely Erin Wotherspoon, who seems to be as drawn to him as
he feels to her - until she breaks it off because of the rather big age
gap (he's 18 years her senior). Steve thus continues his quest, and he's
not just trying to pick up women but also tries to learn more about love,
so among other things he visits a swinger club, pays a
prostitute-turned-sexual-healer for an hour long hug, visits a class on
geisha techniques, and dates women from all walks of life, from pilots to
lumberjacks, to artists, writers and models. Heck, he even pays a visit to
his high school sweetheart. This all helps him with one thing at least, to
not get back together with his ex when she offers him to. But basically he
finds out only one thing for sure, using a documentary as a pretense to
pick up women is ... creepy, and basically wrong. It's only when he
decides to take his documentary seriously as an actual documentary that
his luck changes for the better - maybe just by coincidence, but for the
better nevertheless ... In all probability, Shoot to Marry
is the funniest documentary you've seen in a long time, and that's thanks
to director Steve Markle's approach to portraying himself - and he's not
one to put himself into a very favourable light. In fact, his humour is
pretty self-deprecating, but at the same time he's not without the charm
of what I'd call a loveable loser. Plus, while he shows us how he went
through lots of frustration, he does so in an entertaining way, often by
milking the awkwardness of situations, but without making any of his
subjects, not even himself, into just laughing stock. And that's what
makes everything his going through very palpable, and makes him very
relatable, ultimately makes the audience root for him - and that's also
what makes this a really worthwhile documentary, even for people who are
not at all into documentaries.
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