All About Who You Know Canadian romantic-comedy on Crave review

All About Who You Know Review: A Genre-Subverting Rom-Com

A rom-com that subverts genre standards and delivers a love letter to film and cinephiles

The feature film debut from Canadian writer-director Jake Horowitz is a charmingly unique love story that begins with a boy’s love of film.

In All About Who You Know, Cole (Dylan Everett) is a film school grad who plays out his fantasies as if they were scenes lifted from a movie—imaginary conversations with his idol, a night of drinking made for the screen, and ideal rom-com meet-cutes. He ends up having a meet-cute of his very own when he encounters Haley (Niamh Wilson). Only this being a real life and not a movie, winning her affections will take a little more effort, despite Cole’s cribbed romantic comedy notes.

But this isn’t your average rom-com and as the film’s tagline suggests, it’s a “romantic-ish” take for the Millennial set. Haley, the daughter of Cole’s screenwriting hero (Stargate: Atlantis‘ David Hewlett), is smarter and more complex than the genre would typically deliver, as is her relationship with her father. Naturally, things get increasingly complicated as Cole balances getting closer to a man who can give him a leg up in his career with his growing feelings for Haley.

Filmed around Toronto and Orillia, All About Who You Know subverts some of the traditional genre tropes to deliver a fresh and witty love letter to both film and the film-obsessed. Playing with clichés and name dropping everything from The Most Dangerous Game to When Harry Met Sally, Horowitz’s script feels fresh as it likens Cole’s movie-informed romantic pursuits to pulling off a great heist.

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Cole is obsessed with being out of the ordinary but craves the normalcy that comes with those filmic standards we’ve all been conditioned to want through hours of movie-watching. Everett (who played Zack Morris in The Unauthorized Saved By The Bell Story) and Wilson (Giant Little Ones) have great chemistry on screen in a film that turns out great performances by its leads as well as by Everett and Stephen Joffe in supporting roles. Joffe, who shines as Cole’s BFF and his voice of reason, adds another interesting layer to the story. An added bonus? His band Birds of Bellwood also provide songs for the film’s soundtrack, which also includes Lowest of the Low and Joni Mitchell.

One of the most enjoyable Canadian romances since The F Word, All About Who You Know is now available on VOD in the U.S. and will arrive on Crave in Canada on May 28. The film was previously scheduled for a festival run before the coronavirus pandemic brought everything to a halt.

 



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