NOW ON TUBI AND SWEARNET! Check out how far down the naughty list goes in director Stuart Stone’s high-concept Canadian Christmas caper flick Vandits, written by Stone and Adam Rodness. The action begins at 11:42 PM on Christmas Eve inside a van in a garage in Manitoba. Uncle Sheldon (Tony Nappo) is partaking in weed and liquor along with Guy (Jesse Camacho) and Jesse (Victoria Gwendoline). His nephew Veeny (Francesco Antonio) is snorting coke. They belong to the crime gang, the Vandits = bandits with a van. Sheldon, Guy, Jesse, and Veeny head out to the bingo hall, which has been advertising a $25,000 Christmas jackpot.
Upon their arrival, they find a few players and the only security, Paul (Adrian McLean), asleep in a chair dressed as Santa. The Vandits buy their cards from the cashier, Ramone (Robb Wells), though they argue over having to pay for the dabbers. Jesse is keen on the pretty Jamie (Megan Best) and gets a seat next to her and her grandmother, Bubby Luba (Angela Narth). Blanche (Jann Arden) runs the snack bar, and Tara (Ivy Châtelain) is around somewhere, supposedly helping out. The master of ceremonies, Ned (Enrico Colantoni), calls out the balls while dousing everything with his decrepit attempts at comedy. Right after calling I-22, the Vandits pull on their festive ski masks and announce that they are robbing the place.
After debuting on Tubi, Vandits appeared on Swearnet, the profanity-laced streamer run by the Canadian comedy team the Trailer Park Boys, two days before Christmas to great fanfare. While there’s an obvious tie-in with Robb Wells having a supporting role, the movie fits the kind of outrageous intoxicated derangement that Swearnet’s subscribers lap up like cannabis cream. The characters drink and use drugs just like the viewers at home, so everyone gets to lose control together. That this type of nerve-ending obliteration is being loaded into a Christmas movie is all the sweeter.
“…the Vandits pull on their festive ski masks and announce that they are robbing the place.”
A big congratulations must go to production designer Bruce Cook and set decorator Angela Cook for the fantastic Christmas decor of the tacky bingo hall. Thanks to their toil with the tinsel, this comes very close to achieving the holiday spirit in every shot, which is the goal of any Christmas movie. That the festive season is the visual background for sketchier acts makes for a jolly juxtaposition that doesn’t get old. This goes thrice for the graphic violence that proves the filmmakers are dreaming of a blood-red Christmas.
The comedy is raunchy and passable, though the laughs are generated by the delivery, a point Wells makes. It is the Kurosawa method Stone and Rodness employ that keeps you riveted to the proceedings. This also means that Vandits can be enjoyed outside the holiday corridor, as it has more than enough indie fire to keep burning on screens throughout the year. You don’t have to wait until the beginning of February to watch Groundhog Day, so you aren’t restricted with this either. It won’t start any debate as it truly explores the big Christmas themes of goodwill to each other. That this takes such a winding, bloody path to get there makes it work outside December.
Vandits lands with both feet in the queer holiday romance category and is more than mistletoe worthy. Yes, Virginia, Santa likes to get messed up, too. If the big man in the red suit pissing down your chimney is how you like to holiday, this is for you. It also shows the raw power that is the sole property of the indie sector.
"…shows the raw power that is the sole property of the indie sector."
