Growing Op

A typically quirky Canadian comedy, Growing Op stars Steven Yaffee as Quinn Dawson – a high-strung teenager whose mother (Rosanna Arquette’s Diana) and father (Wallace Langham’s Bryce) run a marijuana grow-op out of their suburban home. As such, Quinn and his sister (Katie Boland’s Hope) have been receiving their schooling at home as a result of their parents’ desire to protect them from the materialistic outside world – yet Quinn, spurred by the recent arrival of a beautiful next-door neighbor (Rachel Blanchard’s Crystal), impulsively decides to break away from his oddball clan by enrolling as a new student at his local high school. There’s little doubt that Growing Op is ultimately felled by filmmaker Michael Melski’s emphasis on egregiously oddball elements, as the movie, though well acted and colorfully shot, suffers from a lack of authenticity that only grows more pronounced as it progresses. It’s consequently not surprising to note that the film, following its eye-rollingly loopy opening half hour, eventually adopts the feel of a garden-variety high-school drama, with Melski’s reliance on some of the hoariest cliches that the genre has to offer (eg Quinn must battle obnoxious bullies and win over the school’s prettiest girl) inevitably transforming Growing Op into an unusually tedious experience. The melodramatic third act (which, perhaps not unexpectedly, includes a fake break-up) effectively cements the film’s place as an utterly forgettable misfire, although, in fairness, even the most astute viewer will likely find themselves surprised by the admittedly silly twist ending.

*1/2 out of ****