''Cruising Bar'' is a 1989 Canadian comedy film, directed by

Robert Ménard Robert Ménard (; born 6 July 1953) is a French politician and former journalist who has served as Mayor of Béziers since 2014. He co-founded the Paris-based international NGO Reporters Without Borders, which he led as its general-secretary ...

. The film stars Michel Côté as four separate characters – Serge, a shy nerd; Patrice, a drug-addicted film and television stuntman; Jean-Jacques, a pompous

yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...

; and Gérard, an unhappily married man – who are each out on Saturday night hoping to hook up with a woman. The film's cast also includes

Louise Marleau Louise Marleau (born August 26, 1944) is a Canadian actress. She won the 1985 Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for her role in '' A Woman in Transit (La Femme de l'hôtel)'' and was nominated in the same category ...

Geneviève Rioux Geneviève Rioux (born 3 November 1961) is a Québécoise television host and actor in theatre, television and film. Biography Geneviève Rioux graduated from the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal in 1983. In 1987 Rioux was nominat ...

Véronique Le Flaguais Véronique Le Flaguais (born 30 November 1947) is a French actress who has acted in many Canadian productions. Her work includes a Genie Award nomination for her supporting role in '' Surviving My Mother'', '' Rumeurs'', ''Jesus of Montreal (J� ...

, Pauline Lapointe, Marthe Turgeon,

Linda Sorgini Linda Sorgini (born 1955) is a Canadian actress who works primarily in Quebec.Gaetan Charlebois"Sorgini, Linda" ''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', October 25, 2021. She is most noted for her performance in the 1983 film ''The Tin Flute (Bonheur d ...

Jean-Pierre Bergeron Jean-Pierre Bergeron (born 1952) is a Canadian actor and film director from Quebec. He is most noted for his performances in the film '' The Big Snake of the World (Le Grand serpent du monde)'', for which he received a Jutra Award nomination fo ...

and Tony Nardi. The film was highly successful in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, setting the province's then-record gross box office for its first week in theatres, and later reaching the highest box office ever received in the province by a homegrown film with a gross of C$3.36 million in Canada. It was not Quebec's most successful film of the year overall; although its box office in Quebec exceeded that of

Denys Arcand Georges-Henri Denys Arcand (; born June 25, 1941) is a Canadian filmmaker. During his four decades career, he became one of the most internationally-recognized director from Quebec, earning widespread acclaim and numerous accolades for his "inten ...

's ''

Jesus of Montreal ''Jesus of Montreal'' () is a 1989 Canadian comedy drama film written and directed by Denys Arcand, and starring Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening and Johanne-Marie Tremblay. The film tells the story of a group of actors in Montreal who pe ...

'', the Arcand film was more successful in English Canada and internationally. The film received three

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculptor ...

nominations at the

11th Genie Awards The 11th annual Genie Awards were presented March 20, 1990, and honoured Canadian films released in 1989. For this year, CTV had negotiated to serve as broadcaster and the academy formed a wholly owned subsidiary, ACCTV Productions, to independ ...

in 1990: Best Actor (Côté),

Best Cinematography The following is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various films, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best ...

( Pierre Mignot) and Best Costume Design ( Louise Labrecque). It did not win any of those awards, but

Jacques Lafleur Jacques Lafleur (; 20 November 1932 – 4 December 2010) was a French politician born in Nouméa, New Caledonia, France. Lafleur was a leader of one of the two anti-independence parties in New Caledonia, the RPCR (Rally for Caledonia in the Rep ...

and Pierre Saindon were presented with a Special Achievement Genie for Make-Up. A sequel film, '' Cruising Bar 2'', was released in 2008."Older but not much wiser; The guys from Cruising Bar are back after 20 years, and the laughs are bittersweet". ''

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

'', June 21, 2008.

References

External links

* 1989 films Canadian sex comedy films 1980s French-language films Films set in Quebec Films shot in Quebec Films directed by Robert Ménard 1980s sex comedy films 1989 comedy films French-language Canadian films 1980s Canadian films French-language sex comedy films {{1980s-Canada-film-stub