Joseph Moser
Actor-filmmaker Samuel Dunning strikes comic gold in his 2025 Maine-set mockumentary, “Canoe Dig It?” The movie explores freestyle canoeing, a sport so ridiculous that it seems like pure fiction — only somehow it’s real. In addition, Dunning unrelentingly lampoons the speech and mannerisms of Mainers, but as a native son, he constantly reveals his affection for his home state as well. His film takes up the mantle of Christopher Guest’s “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show,” and “A Mighty Wind,” showing love for its characters while inviting viewers to laugh at their glaring foibles. “Canoe Dig It?” screens at the Savoy Theater in Montpelier on Saturday, May 23, at 6:30 p.m., and the screening will be followed by a Q-and-A session with writer-director-star Samuel Dunning.
Maneuvering and spinning a canoe in time with pop music might seem beyond ludicrous, yet that is precisely the concept of freestyle canoeing. It’s like very slow figure skating, and it’s ripe for parody. Writer-director Dunning explains how he discovered this form of competition when he suddenly had downtime from his acting career during the pandemic: “I came up to Maine from Brooklyn to visit my mom for a long weekend in March of 2020 and ended up staying for seven months. While home, a friend sent me a video of Marc Ornstein, a well-known freestyle canoeist doing a set to Chris de Burgh’s ‘Lady in Red.’” Both Ornstein and fellow freestyler Molly Gurien appear as themselves in the film, lending authenticity to the hijinks.
Dunning goes on to say, “I was immediately enamored and perplexed by this ‘sport’ or ‘art form’ of freestyle, and I couldn’t believe no one had made a mockumentary based on it. A week later, I started writing a script with no intent to make it — purely just to make myself laugh during lockdown.” Ultimately, he shot “Canoe Dig It?” in the late spring of 2023 and finished post-production last year.
The movie centers on the contestants of the 39th Annual Moosehead Lake Regional Finals, all of whom covet the grand prize of Top Paddler. Among these aspirants are preppy couple Pete and Carol Lebrasca, backwoods denizen Beauregard “Booger” Ouellette, old rookie Hal Michaud, loose cannon Maureen, and pompous reigning champion Leonard (played by Dunning himself). The actors’ exceptional chemistry drives a succession of amusing scenes, and Dunning notes that “improvisation” on set “led to some of our best and funniest moments.”
The character pairings are the comedic engine of the film, and one of the most memorable is Booger and his silent friend Hersh, who maintains his delightfully inscrutable stoicism as he listens to Booger’s heavily accented stories and bone-dry jokes. In an inspired touch, all of Booger’s Mainer dialogue is subtitled. The other standout duo is canoeing play-by-play (paddle-by-paddle?) announcer Burt and his partner Doreen, a sensuous woman who also runs the contest venue, Camp Firewood, and has a sideline crafting X-rated pottery (she would be right at home in central Vermont). In the Fred Willard vein, Burt expounds with enthusiasm on the contestants’ performances despite his complete ignorance of the sport, while Doreen injects technical knowledge and biting wit.
Along with the self-delusions and folly on display, “Canoe Dig It?” effectively reveals the humanity of its characters, including the genuine devotion between Booger and Hersh, as well as the camaraderie between the aging Hal and his motormouth best friend, Greg. The film’s compassionate spirit even extends to less endearing figures such as the Lebrascas and the often-insufferable Leonard.
Clocking in at a breezy 75 minutes, “Canoe Dig It?” keeps the jokes coming at a rapid cadence and does not overstay its welcome. As Dunning attests, “The edit is truly the most important part of a comedy. If it isn’t funny or if it drags, it dies.” In addition to superb pacing, Dunning executes a clever, satisfying ending that is surprising but entirely plausible.
Roger Ebert said that any good movie is a miracle, and an effective comedy is perhaps doubly so. A movie as genuinely warm and funny as “Canoe Dig It?” only comes along every few years, and the filmmaker wants to keep it “out and in front of people” so that viewers can enjoy this mockumentary the way it’s meant to be seen instead of having it “disappear into the abyss” of streaming.
“I don’t think people realize how much power they have in deciding what becomes a hit in the indie market,” Dunning says, “and if they want to see something other than reboots or sequels or endless franchise entries, they can change that!”
“Canoe Dig It?” screens at the Savoy Theater in Montpelier on Saturday, May 23, at 6:30 p.m.
