[1] Set in the Vancouver, British Columbia, neighbourhood of Mount Pleasant, the film centres on three families brought together by fate: Doug (Benjamin Ratner) and Sarah (Camille Sullivan), a young couple who have just moved into the neighbourhood but face a crisis when their young daughter Courtney (Haley Guiel) has to undergo HIV testing after accidentally pricking herself on a used needle discarded in their yard; Stephen (Shawn Doyle) and Anne (Kelly Rowan) Burrows, a wealthy couple challenged by the rebelliousness of their teenage daughter Megan (Genevieve Buechner); and Nadia (Katie Boland) and Nick (Tygh Runyan), an underage prostitute whom Stephen is hiring for sex and her drug addict boyfriend.
[2] The cast also includes Jillian Fargey, Nancy Sivak, Jennifer Clement, Nicole LaPlaca, William MacDonald, Mylène Dinh-Robic, Sophie Yendole, Cam Cronin, Megan Leitch and Peter LaCroix.
Jay Stone of the Vancouver Sun wrote that "Writer-director Ross Weber (Moving Malcolm) evokes solid performances and keeps the plot plunging forward with a street- savvy earnestness: Mount Pleasant, it is apparent, was made by someone who knows the neighbourhood.
Unfortunately, it takes all the issues of the inner city (prostitutes and their clients, drug addiction, homelessness) and cloaks them in the sort of melodrama that would feel gritty on prime-time television but not so much so in the movies.
The movie is also a victim of a modest budget that results in a stark and underpopulated look, and its idea of teen rebellion -- young kids smashing nice dishes!