Review of Wilby Wonderful

Wilby is a fictional island off Nova Scotia, the sort of rugged, resorty place where the islanders don't always think so much of the mainlanders who come to look around and sometimes stay forever. One of the latter, embroiled in small-town scandal, has decided to end it all, but people—motel chambermaid, hyperactive realtor, inquisitive guy in overalls—keep getting in his way. This Canadian ensemble dramedy, available on streaming Netflix, doesn't make the most of its first-rate cast (Paul Gross of "Sling and Arrows," Sandra Oh, Ellen Page, the late Maury Chaykin—guess Molly Parker was already busy with "Deadwood"), and the tone is oddly inconsistent. The various subplots mix (literal) gallows humor and sitcom shtick with scenes of everyday turmoil reminiscent of "Parenthood" (especially so when jangly alt-rock swells up on the soundtrack). Cape Breton homeboy Daniel MacIvor tries to hold it all together with a goofy backstory about a victimless-crime wave and a shady land deal, but that just gets in the way of the uniformly fine performances and the few well-set-up punchlines (Rebecca Jenkins's lusty single mom hits on Duck MacDonald, the overalls guy, and quite a while later, you get why that's funny). Of the lesser-known cast members, Callum Keith Rennie does well as Duck, a nontraditional stand-in for Clarence the Angel, and Jenkins really connects, despite her underwritten character, as a storm-battered islander who's come home to start a new life. Long story short, Wilby may be wonderful, but "Wilby Wonderful" is merely watchable. (Btw—the title was originally supposed to be something else, which would have deprived wiseguy reviewers of this obvious cheap shot.) If you've never seen "Slings and Arrows," available on disk from N'flix and one of the best TV series ever, you shd def'ly give it a look