Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

RUB & TUG writer\director Soo Lyu was not against nudity in her flick per se--witness Susanne Sutchy's boobishness in her bit part as the "new girl" April. However, though the three leads are constantly talking about taking off their tops, whenever they actually do the viewer is left with a bareback tease; that's it. In Soo Lyu's showing-it-like-it-is spirit, here's some suggestions for other projects dying to be made: 1)ALMOST SAVING PRIVATE RYAN--A crack rescue team storms Normandy Beach on D-Day to save the lone surviving son from a quartet of brothers. But when they notice there's no blood anywhere, they decide to throw back a few brews with Papa Hemingway in Paris instead. 2)THE BAAING OF THE LAMBS--A farm girl joins the FBI after watching every episode of X-FILES seven times. But the crime rate has fallen so low under the new administration that the highlight of her first five years is a case of sheep rustling. She quits the bureau to research gene modification, in a quest to equip ewes with better self-defense mechanisms. 3)BREATH OF A SALESMAN--The economy is in the pits, millions are out of a job, and even working girls cannot afford pricey lingerie. Brassiere salesman Hoot Erst hasn't made his sales goal in five years, and suddenly realizes his family's last asset is his life insurance policy. But while he's in the hardware store buying a hose to run his exhaust into his car, scrappers steal his catalytic converter. He ends up back at square one. If these projects strike you as safe but boring, you're ready to enroll in the Soo Lyu School of Film-making.

I'm afraid this one is pretty dreadful, despite several good performances and generally competent acting-for-the-camera direction. It's a first and last attempt by writer-director Soo Lyu. "Rub and Tug" (2002) is one of the unfortunate by-products of Canada's program to promote home-grown film-making. While the program encourages worthwhile efforts like "New Waterford Girl" it opens the door for untalented novices like Lyu who did not have to aggressively pitch this project but was green-lighted without an adequate examination of her script or her credentials. You don't mind the low budget because the shabby production design, bad lighting, poor audio, and dreary docu-style shot selection is consistent with the subject matter; the workers in Canadian massage parlors. But the dialogue and the plotting doesn't give the actors anything to work with, the editor much to assemble, or a viewer any mental challenge other than suspension of disbelief. When your story is this simplistic the last thing you need is a muddled storytelling technique; even though nothing happens, the movie is hard to follow and point-of-view impossible to pin down. Don McKellar's performance as Conrad is several notches below his similar characterization in "Exotica". Lindy Booth's Lea is her standard quirky airhead; as always she is likable but here she is little else. Kira Clavell's Cindy is a pleasant surprise, a kind of Asian Shelley Duval. The only other role of any consequence, Tara Spencer-Nairn's street-wise Betty, more than cancels out her excellent performance in "New Waterford Girl". Her shallow performance in "Rub and Tug" should curtail any tendency to seek out other films in which she has appeared; unless you need further confirmation of "Waterford" director Alan Moyle's skill in working with young actors. You quickly conclude that Lyu's reptilian brain cannot grasp concepts like plot complexity, so the need to insert a lazy and lame "deus ex machina" device toward the end is hardly a surprise. Still it could be worse, the listless story has so little internal logic anyway that the unlikely ending is not as painful as would normally be the case. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Spoilers herein.Folded film: the performance of the movie and the performance of the girls in the movie. A simple fold, typical of a film school project. It ends with another fold, an additional performance.Another project that has an intelligent idea behind it, but without the skills to make it happen. Nice try. But should have switched it around so that Lindy was the redhead.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Seems to be a very true-to-life portrayal of life in a body rub parlor. The movie tries not to be judgemental about the work these women do, but does present it from their point of view. A lot of daily challenges, of going far enough without going too far, keeping it legal, etc.Don McKellar was brilliant as the nerdy manager of the parlor, who seemed to be in way over his head with this job. He gradually got very good at this job in a big way.There's a very twisted humorous ending that came out of nowhere. Extremely imaginative. It sort of kept true to the nature of these people, where nothing is as it seems on the surface.