The 2011 French Canadian film Starbuck won the Golden Reel award, which is presented to the film with the highest domestic gross in the Canadian box office. Starbuck was not only a hit in Quebec, but crossed over to the English-speaking Canadian market and was eventually sold internationally.
The movie received six Genie Award nominations including Best Motion Picture and Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and won Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Song.
The story is about David Wozniak (played brilliantly by the multi-talented Patrick Huard) who donated sperm in his younger years to make some extra cash, under the alias Starbuck. Years later, he works as a delivery man for his father’s butcher shop and for fun, plays amateur soccer on a local team. Never married, he has a girlfriend, Valérie. He’s being pursued by thugs because he owes $80,000 and doesn’t know where to get his hands on that kind of money.
One day, David finds out that he’s the father of 533 children and 142 of those have launched a class action lawsuit to force the fertility clinic to divulge Starbuck’s true identity. David has a lawyer friend who hasn’t had much success in his field, but he offers to represent David in the suit.
Meanwhile, David, curious about his offspring, begins to search them out. Media attention focused on Starbuck is largely negative. Starbuck is being called a pervert, even by Valérie, whom he’s discovered is pregnant with his child. Not having known his other children, he desperately wants to be a father to this one, and he does everything he can to prove his worth to Valérie.
Starbuck offers plenty of laughs, but also winds up being one of the most heartwarming films you could ever see. It’s difficult to imagine improving on this movie, but because it was so popular, it’s been remade into a Bollywood version titled Vicky Donor. There is also an American version called Delivery Man, starring Vince Vaughn.