* La Vie avec mon père: More than one critic noted that Sebastian Rose’s comic drama about the reconciliation of an ailing father and his sons owes a lot to Denys Arcand’s Les Invasions barbares, but it also ‘invokes the good-natured humanity and poetry’ of Claude Jutra’s Mon Oncle Antoine and André Forcier’s Au claire de la lune, according to the high praise of Voir writer Manon Dumais, evoking ‘tenderness and sensitivity about old age.’ It’s a ‘funny, heart-wrenching gem,’ agrees Brendan Kelly at the Montreal Gazette, going on to applaud Rose and the ‘virtuoso turn’ of lead Raymond Bouchard. Kevin Laforest at the Montreal Mirror was less impressed, finding the third act ‘ponderous,’ but quietly cheered the pic’s witty dialogue and ‘inspired visual gags.’

* Hold on to Your Hat: The word ‘amateurish’ comes up repeatedly in reviews of Denis Boivin’s boy-meets-Russian hooker road movie, usually aimed at his script that ‘grows sillier with every bend’ in its 2,500-kilometer trek around Quebec, according to the Toronto Star’s Susan Walker. There are moments of humor, but it’s also melodramtic and, again, ‘technically amateurish,’ writes Liz Braun in the Toronto Sun. Glenn Sumi in NOW Magazine sneers, ‘It’s hard to believe this is playing at a commercial theatre and not in someone’s basement.’

* Seven Times Lucky: Not bad, not great, say critics. Take it or leave it. The ‘dreamy comic noir’ by writer/director Gary Yates is true to the spirits of Dashiell Hammett and the Coen Brothers, says Liam Lacey at The Globe and Mail, but does little to take on a life of its own, noting, ‘The film is about to-and-fro plot mechanics rather than life and death.’ An impressive debut, says Jay Stone at the Vancouver Sun, blessed by ‘smart performances by the whole cast,’ including leads Kevin Pollak and Liane Balaban, but it ‘leaves no lasting impression.’ ‘Plenty of laughs – mostly the sardonic kind – and there’s a nice payoff’ at the end, writes Pat St. Germain in the Winnipeg Sun.