Documentary filmmaker Steve Markle has been left by his girlfriend, and pretty much upon him proposing, too - and that has left him heartbroken, since for him, the way to true happiness has always been through marriage. And obviously, he can't marry without a girlfriend - but he's not very good at the whole dating thing. So he does what he figures every good documentary filmmaker would do in his situation, to shoot a film about his looking for the ideal woman. Via his documentary, he figures, he might also attract the right kind of women. And after a few misfires, he actually finds lovely Erin Wotherspoon, who seems to be as drawn to him as he feels to her - until she breaks it off because of the rather big age gap (he's 18 years her senior). Steve thus continues his quest, and he's not just trying to pick up women but also tries to learn more about love, so among other things he visits a swinger club, pays a prostitute-turned-sexual-healer for an hour long hug, visits a class on geisha techniques, and dates women from all walks of life, from pilots to lumberjacks, to artists, writers and models. Heck, he even pays a visit to his high school sweetheart. This all helps him with one thing at least, to not get back together with his ex when she offers him to. But basically he finds out only one thing for sure, using a documentary as a pretense to pick up women is ... creepy, and basically wrong. It's only when he decides to take his documentary seriously as an actual documentary that his luck changes for the better - maybe just by coincidence, but for the better nevertheless ...

In all probability, Shoot to Marry is the funniest documentary you've seen in a long time, and that's thanks to director Steve Markle's approach to portraying himself - and he's not one to put himself into a very favourable light. In fact, his humour is pretty self-deprecating, but at the same time he's not without the charm of what I'd call a loveable loser. Plus, while he shows us how he went through lots of frustration, he does so in an entertaining way, often by milking the awkwardness of situations, but without making any of his subjects, not even himself, into just laughing stock. And that's what makes everything his going through very palpable, and makes him very relatable, ultimately makes the audience root for him - and that's also what makes this a really worthwhile documentary, even for people who are not at all into documentaries.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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