You don't have to go to a remote island in the South China Sea to test your survival skills.

Just hang out in the maze created by Calgary's Plus-15 walkway system and the major buildings it connects in the downtown core.

That, in a nutshell, is the premise behind Gary Burns' sardonic comedy waydowntown.

Four twentysomethings who work in the city's centre have waged a month's salary to see who can stay in their cocoon world the longest.

The audience joins the friends on day 24 and the entire film occurs over the lunch hour.

Tom (Fabrizio Filippo) has discovered he doesn't just want to get out of the bet and the buildings, but out of the job that has become a living hell.

Sandra (Marya Delver) is doubly frazzled because it is her responsibility to return the items her kleptomaniac boss keeps stealing from the shops in the mall.

Curt (Gordon Curry) has hit on a plan to get him through the ordeal -- he'll seduce co-worker Vicki (Jennifer Clement). While Randy (Tobias Godson) is falling apart. His memory is going as fast as his stamina.

Then there's Brad (Don McKellar), the office veteran who is being thwarted in his suicide attempt.

It's Burns' visuals, characters and his punchy dialogue, not his plot, that carry waydowntown.

There's a lot going on, but it's not nearly as compelling as what's going on in the characters' heads.

(This film is rated AA)

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