''Cas and Dylan'' is a 2013 Canadian

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Jason Priestley Jason Bradford Priestley (born August 28, 1969) is a Canadian actor and television director. He is best known as the virtuous Brandon Walsh on the television series ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (1990–1998, 2000), as Richard "Fitz" Fitzpatrick in ...

from a screenplay by Jessie Gabe. It stars

Richard Dreyfuss Richard Stephen Dreyfuss (; born Dreyfus; October 29, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for starring in popular films during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including '' American Graffiti'' (1973), '' Jaws'' (1975), '' Close Encounters of th ...

Tatiana Maslany Tatiana Gabriele Maslany ( ; born September 22, 1985) is a Canadian actress. She rose to prominence for playing multiple characters in the science fiction thriller television series '' Orphan Black'' (2013–2017), which won her a Primetime Emm ...

Jayne Eastwood Jayne Eastwood (born December 17, 1946), also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is best known for her film roles as Anna-Marie Biddlecoff in the comedy film '' Finders Keepers'' (1984), Judy the Wa ...

Aaron Poole Aaron Poole (born March 17, 1977) is a Canadians, Canadian actor. Early life Poole grew up in Barrie, Ontario and attended Barrie Central Collegiate Institute, Barrie Central Collegiate. He is a graduate of the Etobicoke School of the Arts and Ge ...

, Corinne Conley, and

Eric Peterson Eric Neal Peterson (born October 2, 1946) is a Canadian stage, television, and film actor, known for his roles in three major Canadian series – '' Street Legal'' (1987–1994), '' Corner Gas'' (2004–2009), and '' This is Wonderland'' ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

Atlantic Film Festival FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival (known as The Atlantic International Film Festival until 2017) is a major international film festival held annually in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada since 1980. FIN is the largest Canadian film festival ...

on September 16, 2013. It was released on April 4, 2014, by Pacific Northwest Pictures.

Plot

Dr. Cas Pepper is a 61-year-old doctor, a self-proclaimed loner, and terminally ill. Dylan Morgan is a 22-year-old woman, somewhat of a social misfit, and an aspiring writer. She is currently living with her boyfriend Bobby, who is an unstable individual. Cas reluctantly agrees to give Dylan a short lift to her home. Cas accidentally strikes Bobby with his car when he jumps in front of them and points a rifle at them, and, fearing that he may now be a fugitive from the law, drives away with Dylan's encouragement. Cas and Dylan take off on a drive across Canada, he heading to his vacation home on Canada's west coast (where he plans to bury his recently deceased dog and to commit suicide), and she towards an ostensible interview with a major publishing company she has been communicating with. Initially Cas is not thrilled with the prospect of spending the ride with this young talkative kid, but as the adventure progresses, they grow sweetly fond of each other, helping one another resolve the issues they encounter along the way. The epilogue shows a successful, fulfilled Dylan some time after the cross-country trip, with her voice-over telling us about her tremendous respect for him, and that her current happiness is largely a result of following his advice—a happiness not hindered by the fact that he left her his entire estate after his death (as well as his "secret" pasta sauce recipe).

Cast

Production

In March 2012, it was announced that

would direct the film in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by Jessie Gabe, with

attached to star in the film, and with Mark Montefiore producing the film. In August 2012, it was announced that

had been cast in the film as Dr. Cas Pepper.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began in late summer and early fall of 2012 in Greater Sudbury,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. Additional scenes were filmed in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on September 16, 2013. It was released in Canada on April 4, 2014. In November 2014,

Entertainment One Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television s ...

acquired U.S distribution rights to the film. The film was released through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

on April 17, 2015 prior to a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unit ...

on May 1, 2015.

Critical reception

''Cas and Dylan'' received negative reviews from film critics. It holds a "Rotten" 31% rating on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film holds a rating of 32 out of 100, based on 6 critics, indicating "Generally unfavorable reviews". The film won the

Audience Award An audience award is typically an award at a film festival (or some other type of cultural festival or similar competition) which is selected by the audience attending the festival, rather than by the festival jury or a group of critics. Examples ...

at the 2013

Whistler Film Festival The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) is an annual film festival held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 2001, the festival is held the first weekend of December and includes juried competitive sections, the Borsos Awards, and the Pand ...

.Cassandra Szklarski, "Dreyfuss gushes over Canuck co-star Maslany in odd-couple road movie".

Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Pre ...

, March 31, 2014.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cas and Dylan 2013 films 2013 independent films 2010s road comedy-drama films Canadian independent films English-language Canadian films Entertainment One films Films scored by Michael Brook Films about suicide Films about writers Films set in Canada Films shot in Calgary Films shot in Greater Sudbury Canadian road comedy-drama films 2013 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films