MOVIE REVIEW 'Lewis' manages to seduce audience

The comedy takes place in a small fishing village.
By BETSY PICKLE
SCRIPPS HOWARD
It's hard to tell which influenced the makers of "Seducing Dr. Lewis" more: "Local Hero" or "The Graduate."
On one hand, the charming French-Canadian film is set in a quaint, remote seaside village populated by eccentric characters, & agrave; la "Local Hero." But on the other hand, there's just one word -- plastics -- that ties the movie together.
"Seducing Dr. Lewis" belongs to a family of films that imagine life in a small town to be superior to life in the big city (as opposed to the "Footloose" template wherein small-town life is portrayed as repressive and stultifying). "Local Hero" is the pinnacle of the genre, but there are plenty of others that reverberate with the same feeling, going back to "Brigadoon" and beyond and playing as recently as "The Fighting Temptations." "Seducing Dr. Lewis" is a lightweight but entertaining addition to the tradition.
About the town
Ste.-Marie-La-Mauderne is a small fishing village on an island in northern Quebec with a close-knit population of 125, give or take. The fishing has dried up, and now the town exists on welfare checks the men pick up monthly at the post office from clerk Eve (Lucie Laurier). There's no pride in the village, no hope.
The mayor, Real (Jean-Pierre Gonthier), is trying to get a company that makes plastic containers to build a factory in Ste.-Marie-La-Mauderne, but the deal hinges on the village having a doctor signed to a five-year contract.
There hasn't been a doctor on the island in more than a decade.
Germain (Raymond Bouchard) takes over the campaign after his wife, Helene (Rita Lafontaine), threatens to go to work in the city and Real slips out of town. He sends fliers to a long list of doctors, but not one shows interest. Real is able to use the influence of his new job in Montreal to persuade Dr. Christopher Lewis (David Boutin), a plastic surgeon, to give the island a try.
The villagers take extreme measures to get Dr. Lewis to fall in love with the island. They attempt to learn to play cricket, his favorite sport. They tap his phone to pick up clues to his likes and dislikes. They leave money for him to find. But as their plan has its intended effect, Germain begins to worry about what will happen when Dr. Lewis discovers the paradise is fake, plastic.
Sense of humor
The humor in Ken Scott's screenplay is broad and at times derivative, but the duplicitous plot has a strange integrity.
The villagers are forced to look within to find out what really makes their home so special, and first-time director Jean-Francois Pouliot gives their sea change weight without causing a huge clash in tone.
As rumpled Germain, Bouchard provides the film's soul and much of its humor. Boutin plays down the arrogant-doctor stereotype and makes Lewis a young man still in search of a mold. Pierre Collin as Yvon, Clemence DesRochers as Clothilde, Benoit Briere as Henri and Bruno Blanchet as Steve season their real-seeming characters with quirkiness.
As a result, "Seducing Dr. Lewis" doesn't seduce just Dr. Lewis. With its comfortable comedy, likable characters and sly fantasy tone, it does the same to viewers.