Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 29, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE C3 winnipegfreepress. com ENTERTAINMENT WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2015 C 3 SUBJECT TO CLASSIFICATION. Winners will be printed August 1, 2015. Watch for your name to be printed in theWinnipeg Free Press. If your name appears, call 697- 7224 to claim your prize. Contest closes noon July 31, 2015. The winner( s) must correctly answer a time- limited, skill- testing question in order to claim their prize. Winners must pick up their passes at The Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Avenue front reception before noon August 5, 2015, or another winner will be drawn. Entrants 17 years of age or younger must have parental consent to enter. Full contest rules available by contacting the Winnipeg Free Press. No purchase necessary. Odds of being selected as a winner depend on the total number of eligible email entries received. Approximate retail value of a Double Movie Pass is $ 25.00. enter online at winnipegfreepress. com / contests WIN PASSES TO THE ADVANCE SCREENING OF IN THEATRES AUGUST 7 C O N T E S T S Wednesday, August 5, 7: 00pm SilverCity Polo Park # GiftMovie dfilmscorp. ca Go to winnipegfreepress. com/ contests for your chance to win! No purchase necessary. Contest deadline is noon on July 31, 2015. Winner will be contacted by phone and must answer a time- limited, skill- testing question. Employees of the Winnipeg Free Press and any participating sponsors are not eligible to win. This information is only used by the Winnipeg Free Press and is not sold, bartered, traded or given to any other parties. ENTER TO WIN TICKETS! T HE request is simple and direct: Please Like Me. And as it turns out, liking is an easy thing to do when it comes to this Australian sitcom and its charming and funny creator and star. Josh Thomas is the touslehaired comedian whose autobiographical standup act provides the foundation for Please Like Me , a gentle and sweet but occasionally razor- sharp series that follows the struggles of a not- quite- 21- year- old man who's coming to terms with his own sexuality while at the same time trying to maintain a relationship with his divorced and wildly dysfunctional parents. Please Like Me , which has its Canadian premi�re Friday at 9 p. m. on CBC, opens with young Josh ( Thomas) being blindsided by his girlfriend, Claire ( Caitlin Stasey), as they share an overpriced ice- cream sundae. He wants to make small talk, but she wants to break off their relationship. " I kind of feel like we've drifted, you know?" she offers. " Also, you're gay." Josh summons up a flustered denial of her statement, but by the time he drops in on friend and roommate Tom ( Thomas Ward) at his workplace to discuss the breakup, a chance introduction to an attractive co- worker named Geoffrey ( Wade Briggs) forces Josh to reassess his " I'm not gay" assertion. Later, at a hastily assembled dinner party, Josh finds himself alone with Geoffrey while Tom and girlfriend Niamh ( Nikita Leigh- Pritchard) are in the next room having noisy makeup sex; Geoffrey's rather direct conversational approach invites Josh to act on his feelings, and the next thing he knows, Josh is waking up the next morning with Geoffrey at his side. All of this feels very nice and right and everything, until Josh picks up his phone and discovers a series of increasingly frantic voicemails from his father, Alan ( David Roberts), informing Josh that his mom, Rose ( Debra Lawrance), is in hospital after having overdosed on painkillers. Doctors inform Josh and Alan that Rose is deeply depressed and cannot be released unless she has around- theclock supervision; Alan's not a candidate, having left Rose and taken up with a new, much- younger girlfriend, so it's up to Josh. At the moment of his awakening sexuality and perhaps his first authentically happy romantic encounter, Josh is forced to suppress his feelings and hide his new relationship so he can move home to look after his ailing mother. It all sounds a bit dire, but the way these interwoven storylines are explored in Please Like Me is completely, utterly charming. Thomas's disarming performance in the starring role is the key to the show's appeal; he's awkward and vulnerable while at the same time capable of offering rather pointed commentary about the people and situations that surround him. Throughout the first three episodes provided for preview, Please Like Me unfolds at a rather leisurely pace, focusing more on creating small moments that reveal the characters' inner feelings than driving the story forward with big, important events. The second instalment features a conversation between Josh and Tom, after the former's new romance with Geoffrey has become apparent to all. Tom, who's straight, and Josh, who until recently claimed to be, are having an uncomfortable conversation about the nature of gay sex. " I just really think I'm going to miss vaginas," Josh observes. " They make so much sense. They're just so nifty." It's this kind of dialogue that defines Please Like Me - direct without being blunt or crude; innocent but also decidedly self- aware; pointedly funny without ever employing an obvious setup or punchline. It certainly won't appeal to everyone, but for viewers who fall under the spell of its easy, Aussie charm, Please Like Me will surely be welcomed as an unexpected summer- TV treat. brad. oswald@ freepress. mb. ca Twitter: @ BradOswald Relax, Josh; we do like you... quite a lot WATCHING TV BRAD OSWALD Aussie comic's winning sitcom a gentle charmer TV Review Please Like Me . Starring Josh Thomas, Wade Briggs, Caitlin Stasey, Thomas Ward, David Roberts and Debra Lawrance . Friday at 9 p. m. . CBC �s �s �s �s out of five CBC From left, Wade Briggs ( Geoffrey), Nikita Leigh- Pritchard ( Niamh), Josh ( Thomas) and Thomas Ward ( Tom) in Please Like Me, which premi�res on CBC Friday at 9 p. m. .................. .. .............. 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