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Harbourfront Free Flicks: Rise Of The Underdog

HARBOURFRONT FREE FLICKS: RISE OF THE UNDERDOG at Harbourfront Centre’s WestJet Stage (235 Queens Quay West), from July 4 to August 29, Wednesdays at 9 pm (August 22 at 8:40 pm). Free. 416-973-4000, harbourfrontcentre.com/freeflicks. See listing.


We’re back! Harbourfront’s Free Flicks series – hosted once again by yours truly – returns to Wednesday nights this year with a program called Rise Of The Underdog. Don’t expect Battle In Seattle, though these are underdog movies meant more to entertain than incite riots.

We start this week with Office Space, Mike Judge’s cult classic starring Ron Livingston, David Herman and Ajay Naidu as workplace drones battling corporate monotony with apathy and sarcasm.

Leon Gast’s When We Were Kings (July 18), Drew Barrymore’s Whip It (August 8) and Bennett Miller’s Moneyball (August 22) provide the obligatory sports content. Napoleon Dynamite (July 25) turns nerd life into a surreal freak show Whale Rider (August 15) puts a quasi-mystical spin on the follow-your-dreams Disney narrative.

I’m not entirely sure how the “underdog” thing applies to Zoolander (July 11) or The Social Network (August 1), unless the underdogs are Blue Steel or the Winklevoss twins, but like I said, it’s a pretty loose definition.

The final show (August 29) will be chosen by the audience from four possible contenders: Rocky, Rudy, Billy Elliot and the original Karate Kid. And, yes, the series runs nine weeks instead of six this year, for the added value of watching me try to speak coherently after a crushing day of TIFF preparation.

Shows usually start around 9 pm. Come down, have popcorn, see a movie with a crowd.

It looks to be a disgustingly hot summer, so you should take any opportunity you can to sit by the waterfront for a couple of hours.

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