Gary Burns (Kitchen Party) may not be trying to establish himself as the Canadian Kevin Smith, but his quirky humor, fast-paced dialogue and dirt-cheap production values can't help but make me think of Silent Bob's alter-ego.  His latest is a terrific blend of Office Space and the legendary Seinfeld episode known as "The Contest" (it's the one with the bet to see who can hold out the longest).

The competition in waydowntown involves four Calgary office drones who each kick one month's salary into a kitty that will be claimed by the person who can go the longest without venturing outside.  Like many large cities, Calgary is full of underground tunnels and gerbilesque tubes that connect residential apartments, office buildings and retail shops, so a person can literally never go outside...unless, of course, they want to experience things like fresh air, puppy-dog breath and whatever else happens up there in Canada.

We're introduced to the game on Day 24, and each of the four contestants are slowly going insane from the mind games they're playing with each other.  Sandra (Marya Delver) is convinced the recycled air is poisoning her and thinks sniffing perfume ads from magazines is the key to keeping her lungs all spiffy and clean.  Smarmy Curt's (Gordon Currie) fiancée won't have sex with him until they're married, so he targets a vulnerable co-worker (Jennifer Clement) to get some sweet release.  Randy (Tobias Godson) keeps tabs on his competitors by befriending a nerdy security guard (James McBurney), allowing him to watch surveillance cameras like he was Big Brother, and the brooding Tom (Fab Filippo) becomes infatuated with a superhero and his suicidal cubical-mate, played by the hysterical Don McKellar (eXistenZ).

The rest of the plot revolves around a party being thrown in honor of the company's decrepit founder, who turns out have some pretty serious social flaws of his own.  waydowntown is narrated by Tom, who keeps an ant farm on his desk (a not-so-subtle reference to people spending their lives trapped in a big, glass structure).  Burns shot the film with a digital camera and blew the finished product up to 35mm for use in theatres.  The result is a dark, grainy, colorful mess, but there's no denying that Burns is a filmmaker with a bright future ahead of him.

1:27 –

for language, drug use and some sexuality