''New Waterford Girl'' is a 1999 Canadian

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by

Allan Moyle Allan Moyle (born 1947) is a Canadian film director. He is best known for directing the films '' Pump Up the Volume'' (1990) and ''Empire Records'' (1995). Career His first major film was ''Times Square'' (1980). During the editing of the film h ...

, and written by Tricia Fish. It stars

Liane Balaban Liane Balaban (born June 24, 1980) is a Canadian actress. Her film debut was in '' New Waterford Girl'' (1999) as Agnes-Marie "Mooney" Pottie. She has since appeared in the films '' Definitely, Maybe'' (2008), ''Last Chance Harvey'' (2008), and ...

as Agnes-Marie "Mooney" Pottie, a teenager in

New Waterford, Nova Scotia New Waterford (Scottish Gaelic: ''Port Lairge Ùr'') is an urban community in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada. Geography Formerly known as Barrachois Cove (from barachois, meaning small port, lagoon or pond), its pr ...

, who dreams of life beyond her small-town home. She is inspired and fascinated when Lou Benzoa (

Tara Spencer-Nairn Tara Spencer-Nairn (born January 6, 1978) is a Canadians, Canadian actress best known for her work on the television series ''Corner Gas''. Early life Spencer-Nairn was born on January 6, 1978 in Montreal, Quebec, but raised in Vancouver, Britis ...

), an idiosyncratic girl from New York City, moves into the house next door. Agnes learns Lou has a talent for boxing, leading to her taking Lou in as "muscle" in an attempt to make some changes around town. The film's cast also includes Mary Walsh,

Nicholas Campbell Nicholas Campbell (born 24 March 1952) is a Canadian actor and filmmaker. He is a four-time Gemini Awards, Gemini Award winner, a three-time Genie Awards, Genie Award nominee, and a Canadian Screen Awards, Canadian Screen Award nominee. He is k ...

Cathy Moriarty Cathy Moriarty (born November 29, 1960) is an American actress whose career spans five decades. Born and raised in New York City, she made her acting debut opposite Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's ''Raging Bull'' (1980), for which she recei ...

, Andrew McCarthy, Mark McKinney, Bette MacDonald,

Ashley MacIsaac Ashley Dwayne MacIsaac (born February 24, 1975) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter and actor from Cape Breton Island. He has received three Juno Awards, winning for Best New Solo Artist and Best Roots & Traditional Album – Solo at th ...

, Krista MacDonald, Cassie MacDonald, Darren Keay, Patrick Joyce, Marguerite McNeil and Jeff Ryan.

Plot

Agnes-Marie "Mooney" Pottie is a 15-year-old girl and

black sheep In the English language, black sheep is an idiom that describes a member of a group who is different from the rest, especially a family member who does not fit in. The term stems from sheep whose fleece is colored black rather than the more comm ...

of her family who is sick of her life in the isolated coastal community of New Waterford. She is considered an exceptional student by her depressive, semi-alcoholic English teacher, Cecil Sweeney, who also nurtures an inappropriate crush towards Mooney that is not reciprocated. Based on her talent, Cecil suggests she should attend an arts school in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Mooney manages to get a scholarship at one school, but her religious parents, Francis and Cookie, refuse to let her go. When a family from New York City moves in next door, Mooney quickly becomes friends with the eldest daughter, Lou. Lou is the daughter of a jailed boxer, and though she is of modest stature, she is able to knock men out when they are lying, something the devoutly

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

townspeople consider as something of a religious

miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

. Lou develops a side hustle, knocking out the unfaithful men of the town in exchange for money from their wronged girlfriends. Meanwhile, Mooney concocts a plan to leave town. She begins to openly kiss different boys in town in order to gain a reputation for promiscuity, though she never actually has sex with any of them. Not wanting to be left out, many boys claim they have slept with Mooney. Mooney then tells her parents she is pregnant, which she knows will cause them to send her away where she can then escape and run away to

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. However, the plan backfires as the boys of the town, having wised up to Mooney’s plan, threaten to reveal the truth about never having slept with Mooney. Though Mooney orders Lou to punch them out to show they are liars, they do not fall down when she hits them which shows they are telling the truth. Joey, one of the boys, gives the girls an ultimatum—Lou must face off with New Waterford’s reigning boxing champion in a match, or Mooney’s secret will be made public. Lou ends up winning the match, but Mooney sees Joey outing her to her father anyway. Her father now believes she lied about being promiscuous primarily to cover up the fact that the father of her baby is Cecil. Francis goes to confront Cecil at his trailer, which sits on the edge of a cliff. Cecil, grasping what is going on, claims he is the father and kisses Mooney. Mooney's mother, arriving in time to see the kiss, gets in her car and rams it several times into Cecil's trailer, causing it to topple over the cliff and land on the beach below. Later, Mooney boards a train to

Antigonish, Nova Scotia Antigonish ( ; ) is a town in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The town is home to St. Francis Xavier University and the oldest continuous Highland games outside Scotland. It is approximately 160 kilometres (100 miles) northeast of Halif ...

, where she is to spend the rest of her supposed pregnancy. After exchanging goodbyes with her family, Mooney is given a letter by her mother just before leaving. Seeing her tearful family, she announces she wants to stay. Her mother orders her to get back on the train. On the train, Mooney reads the letter which reveals that her mother knows what her plans are and wishes her luck.

Cast

Production

At the time of production, lead actress

was not an actress. She met producer Julia Sereny at a relative's

Seder The Passover Seder is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar (i.e., at the start of the 15th; a Hebrew day begins at su ...

and was invited to audition for the role. "Only Way", a song by singer-songwriter

Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal (19June 162319August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest ...

, is featured at the end of the film.Trisha Hickey, "BMG Rocks". ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only.

'', October 14, 2000.

Reception

''New Waterford Girl'' has a rating of 92% based on 12 reviews on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

A. O. Scott Anthony Oliver Scott (born July 10, 1966) is an American journalist and cultural critic, known for his film and literary criticism. After starting his career at ''The New York Review of Books'', '' Variety'', and ''Slate'', he began writing film ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote the film "is not exactly a new story, but the filmmakers' sense of local color, their springy, disjointed narrative style and a general refusal on their part or the actors' to stoop to caricature give this version a freshness and intensity that recall the television series ''

My So-Called Life ''My So-Called Life'' is an American teen drama television series created by Winnie Holzman and produced by Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz. It aired on ABC from August 25, 1994 to January 26, 1995. Set at the fictional Liberty High Sch ...

'' of blessed memory." Writing for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'',

Amy Taubin Amy Taubin (; born September 10, 1938) is an American author and film critic. She is a contributing editor for two prominent film magazines, the British ''Sight & Sound'' and the American ''Film Comment''. She has also written regularly for the ' ...

said the film is "a tender and hilarious vision of female adolescence," and praised Allen Moyle's direction, commenting "New Waterford may be a one-street town, but the Nova Scotia coast has a rough, romantic beauty, and the closer Mooney comes to getting out, the more she feels the pull of the place. Moyle shows us Nova Scotia through Mooney’s eyes—a gray sky softly edged with pink at sunset, a brilliantly blue wooden house." In 2001, an industry poll conducted by '' Playback'' named it the seventh best Canadian film of the preceding 15 years. The film was screened at the inaugural edition of the Nova Scotia Retro Film Festo in January 2025.Sean Mott
"Film festival offers glimpse into Nova Scotia’s past"

CTV Atlantic CTV Atlantic (formerly known as the Atlantic Television System, or ATV) is a system of four television stations in the Maritimes, owned and operated by the CTV Television Network, a division of Bell Media. Despite the name, it is not available ...

, January 26, 2025.

References

External links

* * {{Allan Moyle 1999 films 1999 comedy-drama films 1999 independent films 1990s buddy comedy-drama films 1990s Canadian films 1990s coming-of-age comedy-drama films 1990s English-language films 1990s female buddy films 1990s teen comedy-drama films Canadian boxing films Canadian coming-of-age comedy-drama films Canadian independent films Canadian teen comedy films Canadian teen drama films English-language Canadian films Films about Catholicism Films about women's sports Films directed by Allan Moyle Films set in the 1970s Films set in Nova Scotia Films shot in Nova Scotia English-language comedy-drama films English-language independent films English-language buddy comedy-drama films