Canadian writer/director’s Pat Kiley’s latest film, Three Night Stand, is an ambitious if unmemorable second turn behind the camera. Despite an intriguing plot and strong cast the movie fades away into a land of vague and forgettable.

Carl, played by Sam Huntington, is experiencing some marital issues and wants to reconnect with his wife Sue (Meghan Rath) at a ski resort in Montreal. On their way up to the resort they try bonding and rekindling their weakened spirits to no avail as Sue is clearly unhappy and Carl is just going through the motions to make things work out. All is stable though, until they finally arrive to their cabin to find out that Ryan, the person Carl was emailing about the resort is actually Robyn (Emmanuelle Chriqui), Carl’s ex-girlfriend. Awkwardness ensues as this bizarre love-hate triangle/hexagon between Carl, Robyn, Sue, and various other guests at the resort develop.

The idea of a movie entitled Three Night Stand generally brings to mind either a college-esqe party like Risky Business or a lot of Eurotrip-style mishaps and shenanigans between multiple characters. Rather than erring on one side or the other, this movie tries to have it both ways. The result is a genre-questioning mess that swaps between mellow dramatic comedy to cheap porn flick. The movie bounces back and forth removing any substance that could have come from the heart behind it.

Three Night Stand  has golden moments of offbeat comedy where the film becomes truly enjoyable. Unfortunately those moments are few and far between and lasted all of ten to fifteen minutes, though the movie is roughly ninety. With a confused identity as to what genre it belongs in, a shuffled plot and nonsensical decisions made by characters Three Night Stand truly falls apart and makes one wish they left after one night.

[star v=25]