Writer/director/actor Don McKellar's take on the always intriguing "end of the world" concept is a thoughtful, engaging effort that uses dialogue instead of action to discuss this premise intellectually. The inhabitants of a Canadian city quietly accept the news that the world is going to end at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day, 2000 (wisely, an explanation is never given). Rather than succumb to obscene hysteria, the various assembled characters come to terms with their situations thoughtfully and reasonably. McKellar's film is a pleasant change of pace from Hollywood's barrage of action-packed visions of the apocalypse.