A comic ode to contemporary Peter Pans, “Things to Do” is a pleasant indie diversion about the vagrant joys of dropping out, wasting time and having fun in your 20s. Director/co-writer Theodore Bezaire’s loosey-goosey movie is set in suburban Windsor, Ontario, where drifting Adam (played by Bezaire’s buddy and co-writer Mike Stasko) returns after fleeing a bad job in the city. Back home, living with his parents, Adam re-teams with old pal Mac (Daniel Wilson), whose favorite adjective is “sweet,” and the two try to do all the things for which they never had time or guts enough before. They start an (awful) rock band, shoot an (awful) horror movie, ride in a soapbox derby, chase their big high school crush, fly a plane and other stuff. Luckily, Adam doesn’t seem strapped for a livelihood–fitting for a character clearly modeled on Dustin Hoffman’s Ben in “The Graduate.”
Unfortunately, this movie doesn’t have a Mrs. Robinson. Instead it has Adam’s strange chum Mac– a tall, stubble-face, good-humored guy who calls to mind the Wilson brothers in “Bottle Rocket.” (Daniel is their cousin.) Not bad at all, but not too good, “Things to Do” suggests that its makers, like its characters, will do better things later on. No MPAA rating. Parents cautioned for language and sensual themes. Various times Fri.-Thu. The Gene Siskel Film Center.
