''Textuality'' is a 2011 Canadian romantic comedy film, directed by

Warren P. Sonoda Warren P. Sonoda is a Canadian film and television director,Libaan Osman"Toronto filmmaker taps into Japanese-Canadian roots with crime movie" '' Toronto.com'', August 11, 2020. and the current president of the Directors Guild of Canada. Biograp ...

. An exploration of the impact of

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...

on romance, the film stars Jason Lewis and

Carly Pope Carly Pope (born August 28, 1980) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles on The WB's drama series '' Popular'' (1999–2001), supernatural drama series ''The Collector'' (2004–2005), USA Network's legal drama series '' Suits'' ...

as Breslin and Simone, a financial advisor and an artist in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

who meet and begin to date while each is still navigating multiple casual relationships through e-mail, texting and social networking platforms.Norman Wilner
"Textuality"
''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'', April 21, 2011. The cast also includes

Eric McCormack Eric James McCormack (born April 18, 1963) is a Canadian-American actor and singer, known for his roles as Will Truman in the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', Grant MacLaren in Netflix's '' Travelers'' and Dr. Daniel Pierce in the TNT crime dram ...

Kris Holden-Ried Kris Holden-Ried (born August 1, 1973) is a Canadian actor. Early life and pentathlon Holden-Ried was born in Pickering, Ontario. He studied at Montreal's Concordia University School of Business. He was a champion competitor in riding and fen ...

Kristen Hager Kristen Hager is a Canadian actress. She co-starred in films '' Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem'' (2007) and '' Wanted'' (2008), and played Leslie Van Houten in the independent film ''Leslie, My Name Is Evil'' (2009). From 2011 to 2014, Hager star ...

Holly Elissa Holly Elissa (born 1 October 1979, as Holly Elissa Dignard), is a Canadian artist, actress, filmmaker and activist. She is an advocate for women's rights, child welfare, social injustice and discrimination as well as a supporter of animal and ...

, Supinder Wraich, Anna Cyzon and

Renee Percy Renee Percy (born November 14 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian actress, writer, and comedian. Percy is best known for her work on the sketch comedy shows Air Farce Live and CTV/Comedy Network's ''Comedy Inc'', and for her Comedy Now! Special "W ...

. The film premiered in Toronto in April 2011.

Critical response

The film was not well received by critics. Norman Wilner of ''

'' wrote that "No point mincing words: Textuality is a sorry excuse for a romantic comedy. The characters are one-dimensional, the script is banal, and the social media angle the movie works so hard to establish in its opening reel isn’t even relevant to the plot in the end. In that opening reel, though, Textuality flirts with the notion that texting, Facebooking and blogging push people even further away from engaging with one another in the real world. (It’s nothing

Andy Rooney Andrew Aitken Rooney (January 14, 1919 – November 4, 2011) was an American radio and television writer who was best known for his weekly broadcast "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney", a part of the CBS News program ''60 Minutes'' from 1978 to 2011 ...

didn’t say about the VCR, the answering machine or the cellular phone back in the day, but it’s still an intriguing idea for a movie.) But this is not that movie. Textuality’s script, written by co-star Liam Card, just rehashes ancient rom-com tropes and throws in a few Twitter references to seem contemporary." For the ''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', Chris Knight wrote that "The dialogue is deadly. The settings are dreary. Aside from Simone's attractive boudoir, the film features impromptu conversations in a supermarket, on a treadmill, in a change room, at a dinner party, in the bath, after the bath, in a bowling alley and at an art gallery. Of course, some of these conversations also take place over

BlackBerry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy of ...

s (hence the film's clever punning title), but the text-message angle adds nothing to the drama." He concluded that "The overall effect of the film is like an independent, lowbudget

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United St ...

, only with far less sex and, to be honest, not nearly as much city." For the

Sun Media Sun Media Corporation was the owner of several tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in Canada and the 49 percent owner of the now defunct Sun News Network. It was a subsidiary of Quebecor Media. On October 6, 2014, Quebecor Media announced the s ...

chain, Liz Braun was more charitable, writing that "Textuality may not rise much above its genre, but the movie does have some laugh out loud moments and a bit of sizzling dialogue." She subsequently called attention to the fact that the movie's best lines all came from Mike, the character played by the film's screenwriter Liam Card.Liz Braun, "Textuality your standard rom-com, with gadgets". ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Postmedia Place i ...

'', April 22, 2011.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2011 films 2011 comedy films Canadian romantic comedy films English-language Canadian films Films shot in Toronto Films set in Toronto Films directed by Warren P. Sonoda 2010s English-language films 2010s Canadian films