Let's All Hate Toronto
Directed byAlbert Nerenberg
Rob Spence
Written byAlbert Nerenberg
Rob Spence
Hart Snider
Produced byShannon Brown
Albert Nerenberg
StarringRob Spence
Albert Nerenberg
Colin Mochrie
Dan Aykroyd
Edited byRob Spence
Hart Snider
Wolfe Blackburn
Production
company
Elevator Films
Distributed byCBC Newsworld
Release date
  • April 20, 2007 (2007-04-20) (Hot Docs International Documentary Festival)
Running time
75 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish

Let's All Hate Toronto is a 2007 Canadian documentary film co-directed by independent documentarian Albert Nerenberg and Rob Spence. The documentary is a comedic examination of the reasons why so many people in Canada seem to hate Toronto, Ontario. In the film, co-director Robert Spence, nicknamed "Mister Toronto", takes off on a cross-Canada journey to find out why there seems to be so much resentment for Canada's biggest city, all the while promoting a fake "Toronto Appreciation Day".[1]

Synopsis

Mr. Toronto starts his journey in Hamilton after he sees a billboard boasting "Toronto Sucks" as an advertisement campaign. He finds out that some fans of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats put on bags over their heads because of the shame of losing to Toronto during the Labour Day CFL game every year. He decides to go around Canada on a fake "Toronto Appreciation Day" tour. Mr. Toronto visits St. John's and Halifax, where Atlantic Canadians spit on his "Toronto Appreciation Day" banner. Then he travels to Montreal where local comedy troupe The Dancing Cock Brothers sing "Goodbye Toronto, Bonjour Montreal"[2] and where his Toronto work ethic influences the city to change the light bulbs on the giant cross atop Mount Royal. Next, he skips the Prairies (because "every Torontonian does"), and lands in Calgary and Vancouver, where he learns that resentment towards Toronto runs very deep.[3] During the 2006 NHL Stanley Cup Finals, he visits Edmonton where he risks his life by wearing a faux Wayne Gretzky Toronto Maple Leafs jersey during the Edmonton Oilers’ Stanley Cup run.[1]

Let's All Hate Toronto then presents a list of the top ten reasons why Canada hates Toronto, including envy, violence, pollution and The Toronto Maple Leafs.[3] In the end, Mr. Toronto is so discouraged that, like the Hamilton Tiger Cats fans, he puts a bag on his head and wanders into the fog at Toronto's Nuit Blanche art event, where, after admitting that Toronto does suck, he receives over 1,000 hugs from the Torontonians at the event, including the mayor of Toronto. This makes Mr. Toronto believe that his native city does not suck as the rest of Canada seems to think.

Throughout the film Mr. Toronto does several television and radio interviews and is frequently asked, "What city in Canada hates Toronto the most?" At the end of the film he realizes that Toronto hates itself the most.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Tong, Allan (August 2007). "Let's All Hate Toronto". Exclaim.ca. Archived from the original on 2007-12-09. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  2. ↑ CTV.ca | Filmmaker takes risk, touting Toronto in Montreal
  3. 1 2 "Let's All Hate Toronto". CBC Newsworld. September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
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