[2] The cast also includes Andrew Younghusband as Violet's son Carlos, a gay university professor visiting from his academic job in Montreal and trying to teach everybody to speak Italian; Barry Newhook as her son Rex, a deadbeat musician; Susan Kent as her daughter Ramona, a potter; and Peter MacNeill as Rusty, a hired hand with a romantic interest in Violet; as well as Berni Stapleton, Janis Spence, Raoul Bhaneja, Janet Michael, Maisie Rillie, Sherry White, Brian Hennessey, Ron Hynes and Jody Richardson in supporting roles.
[5] Due to the challenges facing independent films in that era, House bought back the film's commercial distribution rights from Alliance Atlantis, and independently organized a commercial run beginning in St. John's in November and expanding to the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver markets in December.
"[3] Scott MacDonald of the National Post wrote that "tt's amiable, amusing stuff mostly, with a lot of very appealing performances, but it's also a very slim premise for a feature.
When House resorts to cartoon subplots involving a horrid relative's comic attempts to bump Violet off for an inheritance, the strain starts to show.
"[2] For the Toronto Star, Geoff Pevere wrote that "sometimes it works, as director House draws uniformly likeable performances from her large cast, and sometimes you just wish everybody would get off their complaining arses and get on with it.