AllMovie

A teenager struggles to find both love and a future in this neo-realistic drama. Mitsy (Meghan Greeley) is a teenage girl who dreams of someday becoming a hairdresser and moving out of the shabby Newfoundland town where she was born and raised. But fortune doesn't often smile on Mitsy; her mother abandoned her when she was young, and she's been raised by her grandmother Bride (Mary Walsh), who keeps Mitsy on a short leash even though Bride makes her living as a prostitute. Mitsy loves Sparky, a little dog who gives her the sort of unconditional affection she doesn't get from her family, and she wants to keep the dog and care for it. However, when Sparky runs away, she ends up having to sleep with Duffy (Joel Thomas Hynes), a scruffy delinquent who works at a diner, in order to get him back. Mitsy is thrilled at first when her mother Gwennie (Cheryl Wells) unexpectedly returns, but the reunion isn't a happy one; Gwennie turns out to be an alcoholic sex worker who doesn't much care for Mitsy, won't allow Sparky in the house, and ends up stealing Duffy away from her own daughter. The first feature film from director Sherry White, Crackie was an official selection at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.