Nothing to Declare

A Magical Joy of a Film
Originally titled "The Taxman" and then sometimes known as "Promise Her Anything" or "Love and
Debt", this movie had never received a wide release until now. (And due to the different titles there
is great confusion amongst sites like IMDB and Amazon about which movie is which!
Maybe they'll eventually sort it out now that this DVD release has happened.)

"Nothing To Declare" is a warm, charming, funny, entertaining, audience-friendly and endearing look
at a small town in Canada (called Putterton) which has a long and secret history of not
paying taxes - at all! A new taxman (or woman, as the case may be) comes to town for an
audit and everything snowballs from there. Compounding the town's problems is a large
commercial Wal-Mart-type store (personified by the Devilish cigar-chomping Patrick
Bergin) that wants to open up and will likely mean the end of many of the small family-run
businesses on Main Street.

The lead...

Wonderful gem of a film
This is a delightful movie, starring Billy Zane ("Titanic") and Barry Morse ("The Fugitive" and "Space: 1999"). In the vein of the classic "It's A Wonderful Life", it's a warm, wonderful gem of a film that's both humorous and dramatic. Highly recommended!

Lightweight Romantic Comedy
For some reason I like Billy Zane. He can play the meanest of meanies(Titanic) or, as in this on, likeable, goofy, nice guy.

The story takes place in small town, Putterton, Canada where for years the town folk haven't paid their taxes. In comes a tax woman Valerie Valois who is set upon, deceptively, by the last remaining Putter(Zane). His reluctant job is to distract her investigation and also save the town from a big developer. Romance ensues, problems flow as the truth will out, but all quite, gently predictable.

It's a family film, but the kids won't like it- too boring for them. But with no swearing, sex and violence- that's a plus. The snowy burg(filmed in Canada) and populace are cute, and the story, very, very, very mild.

It has Barry Morse- remember him from 'The Fugitive' as Det. Gerard chasing poor David Janssen around TV every week? Both of Zane's love interest, add Clare Sims(another obscure actress) as the disgruntled girlfriend...

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