* Saint Ralph: There was faint praise for the pre-hyped festival favorite about marathons, moms and miracles, most of which gave nods to the able work of stars Adam Butcher and others but took issue with the maudlin script by writer/director (and, gasp, long-distance runner) Michael McGowan. The pic has ‘nothing going for it,’ says CanWest’s Jay Stone, ‘but the goodwill of a talented cast and a plot so unpretentiously dopey… wins you over.’ Overwritten, agrees Mark Slutsky at the Montreal Mirror, but it ‘works in parts, mostly thanks to [Campbell] Scott and [Gordon] Pinsent.’

And yet the Calgary Sun liked the script – ‘not as maudelin as it sounds,’ insists Louis B. Hobson – and cheered Ralph as a heart-warmer that celebrates the ‘healing power of innocence and faith.’

* Mémories affectives: Both Brendan Kelly at the Montreal Gazette and the Toronto Star’s Peter Howell make favorable comparisons between this Genie-sweeper, just released in English Canada, and other amnesiac mind-benders such as Memento and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. ‘Highly original’ but confusing, says Kelly, as at-his-best lead Roy Dupuis tries to tie together the threads of his coma-addled memory. It’s an ‘outstanding’ performance, agrees Howell. Eye Weekly found it less memorable, echoing complaints about the ‘complex puzzle-box structure’ and the ‘predictable and irrelevant’ story.