about it, but it was too complicated with that number of characters. Besides, hockey is political. It's hard to talk hockey in this country since we think of it as our game, but it's largely owned by others." Gross solved those problems by replacing hockey with curling. In October 2000, Gross was still working on the script with Krizanc and another writer, Paul Quarrington. Pre-production and filming According to Thom Best (the film's director of photography), the film had three weeks of pre-production, which mostly consisted of scouting locations in Ontario. Six weeks of principal photography took place in Toronto, in locations such as a studio space and the streets in Uxbridge. Four days of exteriors were shot around the mines in Sudbury, and two more weeks of principal photography occurred in Hamilton and Brampton curling rinks. Alliance Atlantis invested $1.5 million or more in the film's print and advertising campaign, which included an eight-city, private jet tour for cast, the director, and producer Robert Lantos. Reception The film attracted $1.04 million in North American box office, opening on 215 screens in 207 theatres for a $5,024 per-screen average, the third highest among all North American releases for the three-day opening period starting March 8. It ended up grossing over $4.2 million in Canada – making it the top-grossing English Canadian film subsidized by Telefilm Canada between 1997 and 2002. Released on 27 screens in the United States, it grossed $14 765. American magazine Entertainment Weekly gave the film a grade of C-, calling the film's cast "charming" but criticized the script for being "alternately overdetermined and touching, crass and sharply comic." Reviewers for Jam! were split. One called it a "perplexing example of promise unfulfilled, despite many charming moments...[whose] romantic elements are light, like watery beer with the alcoholic kick removed. And the comedy elements are often too crude and clumsy to do justice to the movie's situations." Another called it a "winning ensemble comedy that shows Canadians can put gentle laughs and equally gentle sentiments on the button, just as easily as their counterparts anywhere else in the world." Hollywood trade paper Variety called it a "wan romantic comedy" with "ineffective physical comedy in slightly crude Brit geezer vein...[and] a load of unneeded expletives." The film now has a cult following on DVD. Many relish the gentle Canadian comedy with its wry look at its country. In September