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After making it through one of the worst mornings ever, 29-year-old Ryan (Paulo Costanzo) could use a little good news. It all started when his girlfriend threw him out of their Vancouver apartment, complaining about his lack of motivation. Then he showed up for work, only to be suspended from his job as a technical writer after his boss dug up some rather distressing poetry on his hard drive.
As he’s packing up his cubicle, Ryan gets a call from his parents, announcing that they’ve won $4.3 million in the lottery. It looks like things might finally be looking up—so he rushes over, only to find out that it was all just a mix-up. Fortunately, though, one good thing does come out of it—a job a job interviewing and photographing lottery winners for the lottery’s magazine.
Before long, Ryan’s settled into a new job and a great new apartment in an entirely unoccupied high-rise in the city. Everything seems to be going relatively well—until he begins to realize how pointless it is. Everyone around Ryan is involved in some sort of money-making scam—even his parents have a grow-op in their basement—so why should he have to spend his whole life at a meaningless job that pays next to nothing, when he could be making real money, just like everyone else?
Written by popular Gen-X techno-geek-novelist Douglas Coupland, Everything’s Gone Green is everything you might expect. It’s filled with disillusionment and disinterest. There are characters trying to figure out how to get the most possible money in return for the least possible effort. There’s a well-meaning young techno-slacker who’s frustrated with the futility of it all. And, to sweeten the deal a bit, there’s a little bit of young romance.
Coupland fills the story with his ironic and often cynical sense of humor. For instance, he places the story in Vancouver, where many Hollywood films and television shows are regularly filmed. Often, when you see Vancouver in a movie, it’s supposed to look like New York or LA. But here, it’s just Vancouver—with its ubiquitous camera crews, its extras dressed as aliens, and its one palm tree that’s moved from set to set, to make its buildings look like they’re set in Southern California.
The film tends to move at a slacker’s pace, and it’s not obviously, side-splittingly hilarious, but it’s amusing nonetheless, in Coupland’s dry, laid-back style. It’s definitely different—so mainstream audiences might find it a bit sluggish and even a little puzzling. But it’s also definitely Coupland—so if you’re a fan, you’ll be as delighted by Everything’s Gone Green as any cynical, disillusioned Gen-Xer can possibly be.
