Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story (2005)

Simply A Masterpiece

Good movie but grossly overrated

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

If there was a story about finding the strength to overcome adversity, I couldn't find it. What I found was an insipid ploy right out of Made-for-TV Hell to cash in on a certain family member's celebrity.The guy playing Walter didn't look more than 15 years older than the guy playing Wayne, and neither of them looked remotely like Walter or Wayne. The woman playing Phyllis looked like Sarah Palin, complete with glasses and hair in a French twist. The guy playing the therapist looked like he just dropped out of junior high school. The guy playing Walter's buddy looked like a dumpy version of Clive Owen. At least the guy playing the doctor actually looked like a doctor.Here, Wayne, Keith, Brent, and Glen don't have lives, and Kim is well on her way to becoming Canada's most famous spinster when the therapist begins to hit on her. Yeah, they did wind up getting married, but it was more than a bit icky.Since the therapist is so inept at his job, he makes lists, he must have written the following for Walter to do; there is simply no other possible explanation:Have flashbacks about teaching your boy to play hockey while on the way to the hospital.Visit your parents' graves, then flip out like Frankenstein on an acid trip while having flashbacks about feeding chickens with your mother.Flip out like Frankenstein on an acid trip as you watch your kids play hockey.Flip out like Frankenstein on an acid trip when your wife serves you lunch.Flip out like Frankenstein on an acid trip as you chase after a figment of your imagination before it falls through the ice and drowns.Babble in Ukrainian like Frankenstein on an acid trip.Go into deer-caught-in-the-headlights mode at the drop of a hat.Crawl on your hands and knees across a skating rink.Get dissed by the coach of a pee-wee hockey team.Drive your wife and daughter up the wall.Phyllis and Kim were utterly unlikable because they had something resembling personalities. The others could have been played by cardboard cut outs, and no one would have noticed.

Living in Brantford, Ontario I have had the pleasure of meeting several members of the Gretzky family - especially Walter. To us, the Gretzky story is more of a reality than a story and it is known by almost everyone. This movie more than captured the feelings of what happened to Walter, and the whole experience. They way that the actor in the movie portrayed Walter is exactly how I see him every time I am at the local hockey arena. This is definitely a movie worth watching, even if you are not a fan of hockey. It will bring tears to your eyes and make you smile at the same time.

Why was this film even made? No disrespect to Walter Gretsky, but countless people have been felled by strokes. Other than his near celebrity status as the father of hockey legend Wayne, Walter's story just isn't that interesting -- or that well executed - to make a decent movie. The wooden dialog and homespun feel the filmmakers were obviously looking for teetered on the brink of melodrama. I found looking into the Gretskys' private life, and conversations between friends and family members (as imagined by the writer), somewhat disquieting. The filmmakers seem to have overlooked the fact that you can't make a good movie without a good story And this one just doesn't cut it.

Although I figured this would be an ordinary biography, I found the Gretzky story to be entertaining, and moving to the point where I cried more than once. McCamus should win a Genie for his portrayal of Walter Gretzky, and the characters were believable and real. I found myself caring more and more as the film went on, which is more than I can say for 90% of the films I watch (both Canadian and American) and cheering for Walter every time he makes progress or remembers something from his past. Since the story isn't over (as the real Walter Gretzky is still recovering) it naturally leaves you a bit unsatisfied at the end with respect to how far he needs to go, but it still stands out as one of the great films (not just documentaries) of the year. Since it just aired on CBC this week, I would be interested to hear what other Canadians (and even Americans) think of this very sensitive story of a kind, compassionate family and their struggle to bring their patriarch back from the void. ========================Slight spoiler follows==============Well, not really a spoiler but at the very end, they show footage of the real Walter Gretzky meeting the cast and crew and watching the film, and that set the tears flowing freely. It was such a beautiful ending to an already wonderful movie that I am revising my earlier review of 9 and giving it a 10. I mean, what more can you ask for if a movie brings smiles AND tears?