Niagara Motel

Sounds like a loser proposition, doesn't it? Convene a bunch of down-and-outers at a seedy Niagara Falls motel and observe as their lives circle the drain. But thanks to fine elliptical writing by Dani Romain and acclaimed Canadian playwright George F. Walker, plus knock-out ensemble work by hitherto mostly midlist actors, it's a charming little indie film - a quintessential sleeper.

Craig Ferguson (of late-night fame) plays an alcoholic janitor in a permanent state of mourning (he lost his wife in a snapshot mishap aboard the Maid of the Mist). Most of the other denizens are transients, whose only common denominator is their tendency to bungle whatever they set out to accomplish.

Peter Keleghan portrays a downsized exec desperate for a job - any job -- and Wendy Crewson his less than sympathetic, demandingly dependent wife. There's no question they're slumming, and it's only when she's willing to dive even deeper - she becomes intrigued with a motel neighbor who's a hooker (Krista Bridges) - that she can start to appreciate her husband's pain.

Kevin Pollak has the role of a sleaze-entrepreneur who's trying to enlist Loretta, a pretty young waitress (Caroline Dhavernas, of the all-too-short-lived TV series "Wonderfalls," also set cascade-side), as an exotic dancer and/or home-movie porn star. Loretta's self-appointed Dudley Do-Right (Tom Barnett) does everything wrong to oust his rival and win her affections, though his heart's clearly in the right place. Actually, Loretta's best defender is her Serbian co-waitress (Catherine Fitch, plain-faced as a wooden clothespin, who had a recurring role on "Slings & Arrows").

The pair in direst straits is recent ex-con R.J. (Kristen Holden-Ried, who has haunting eyes) and reformed junkie Denise (an incendiary Anna Friel, shorn of all "Pushing Daisies" cutesiness), who are trying to get their baby back from a densely unsympathetic social worker (Janet-Laine Green): "Do you cook for him when he comes home from work?" is one of her qualifying questions. The way Denise reacts is spectacularly wrong-headed, but this being a comedy - with a noirish tinge - the consequences aren't all that grave.

The only disappointment in this 90-minute movie (other than poor film quality, pretty much a given, seeing as it was shot for TV) is the ultra-abrupt ending - as if it had been intended, as perhaps it was, as a pilot. Despite these shortcomings, Niagara Motel is a low-profile pip, well worth your viewing time.