Quebec -- Montreal is a scrappy little road movie all about the war between men and women. The story involves four cars, nine characters and endless talk about relationships, as everyone involved drives Highway 20 from Quebec to Montreal. They don't know it yet, but our nine men and women are connected to each other in a variety of ways.

SEX VERSUS LOVE

In one car, three buddies are driving to Montreal to catch a flight to Cuba. They are pumped for a vacation in the sun.

But what one guy doesn't know is that his two best friends are fighting furiously over whether or not to tell him about his girlfriend's infidelity. Long, often very funny conversation follows about sex versus love.

In another car, a nerdish videogame designer and his beautiful, flirtatious co-worker drive to an important business meeting in Montreal. He has been drinking heavily to maintain his composure, trying to be cool so she won't guess that he's crazy about her. Will he get up the courage to make a move en route?

The third car contains a young couple bickering endlessly as they drive to their new home in Montreal. The man is filled with obsessive-compulsive fears, and the woman's patience is thin. Then they run out of gas.

And in the last car we meet a womanizing lawyer, a wheeler-dealer who's an unwitting slave to his affairs and his car phone.

The story cuts back and forth among these characters. Every now and then, an idealized, fantasy couple -- macho male, tarty blond cheerleader -- drives through the narrative in an idealized, fantasy red car. It's a nice touch.

Quebec -- Montreal has several good things going for it. The ensemble cast, which includes the film's co-writers, Patrice Robitaille and Jean-Philippe Pearson, as well as Stephane Breton, Isabelle Blais, Julie Le Breton and Benoit Gouin, is very strong. The various relationships are all revealed through dialogue and most of the action takes place inside cars.

DARKLY FUNNY

That the film works as nicely as it does is a function of how well-written it is. The ending is a bit soft, but the film is often surprising and darkly funny, with plenty of pithy observations about how men and women behave lying just under the laughs. The vulnerability of all the male characters suggests which side the filmmakers are on, but never mind.

Quebec -- Montreal is really one long conversation, but it's one you'll want to hear.

(This film is rated AA)

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