Big Steal - Jaguars klaut man nicht

Not a horrible film but nowhere near a classic cinema 10 some reviews would have you believe it is.

Not horrible though, just disposable light weight aussie comedy.

It doesn't matter if you like teen movies or not , once you have seen the Aussie version of this genre you will forget all the rest. Ben Mendelson and Claudia Carvan make you fall into the plot as a teen couple from different sides of the school yard who eventually fall in love. However , as with all teenage boys , Danny Clarke (Mendelson) cant resist the fallacy of having to find a way to impress the girl and win her love, and you guessed it , it involves a CAR ! A jaguar no less ! Anyway , with the help of his friends they get the car of his dream only to realize that they have been ripped off by the car yard he bought it from. Needless to say, the girl is not impressed by cars, and the resulting chaos of getting back at the car dealer ends up in a hilarious comedy of everyone chasing each other around. I still remember this film as the one that made me fall head over heels in love with Claudia Carvan.... Didn't You ?

I can't believe I have never seen or ever heard about this film before. To impress a girl at his school, a boy trades in his car for a Jaguar from a crooked second-hand car dealer. It was just a good-spirited, funny and delightful film to watch. I also must admit I loved the fact that I have shot a film at that very car park where the boys work, and it was located on the street I used to live, so I have some personal connection to the locations as well. This aside, it is intelligent, amusing, and keeps the pace going throughout the film.

It was the first leading role for Ben Mendelssohn and a spirited performance by Claudia Karvan. It is also good to see Steve Bisley performance. It can be hard for me to shake his role in Police Rescue and Water Rats, but I have seen him in more and more films recently during his early career, and I have to admit he had a substantial part of building up Australian cinema.

I first this movie as an early teen and immediately identified with Danny Clark. I have watched this movie numerous times since and still feel this eclipses the Castle, the Odd Angry Shot and Malcolm as the greatest Aussie film ever.

Essentially, Danny Clark (Ben Mendehlson) wants a car and a girl ... and both seem very unlikely.

This movie follows the nervous and unsure Danny in his attempts to attain both the girl and the car at the same time but what follows is a complete comedy of errors and schemes.

Ably assisted by his two best mates, Van (Remember those days when Greeks drove Monaro's?) and Mark, Danny conceives a plan to get even with the rogue car dealer that has "ruined his life". The deception of the car dealer, Gordon Farkas, is probably no surprise to any of us who have trawled Parramatta Road in Sydney and the like in trying to find that perfect set of wheels! Danny must also find recompense and we follow his valiant attempts to win over the gorgeous Joanna Johnson. Claudia Karvan is one of the most gorgeous and attractive Australian actresses and watching this as a young teen had me instantly falling in love with her too! The characters are identifiable to all of us that watch this movie and we immediately identify with the underdog from that first scene. His off-beat parents add that real quirky Aussie humour we all know and love and along with the over protective future father-in-law, Danny is sure to have a hard time attaining his girl.

For me, however, it was the performance of Steve Bisley which made this movie. As exaggerated as his performance may seem it is not unlike any of the dodgy car dealers you see operate their 'craft' on places like Parramatta Road. Indeed, Steve Bisley notes in commentary that he spent weekends at these yards to research the role and almost got sucked into buying a car himself! This is without doubt one of those born roles not unlike Burt Reynolds in Boogie Nights and it would seem Bisley is doing the car industry a disservice by staying an actor!

The soundtrack is perfect and songs like 'Dancing in the Storm' by Boom Crash Opera are memorable in being music of the time and place of this movie. I still get goosebumps watching the scene when this song comes on and sadly, have even tried to recreate this by playing the same song in similar situations!

My sad personal life aside, this movie has affected me and many Aussie guys and without a doubt, perfectly describes the adventures of our teens. The saddest thing of all is, you never learn and still get sucked in every time you buy a car or get a girl!

Mostly moronic nonsense where quirkiness is paraded as wit. Yet, despite its predictability, it has entertainment value, nice locations, and a fantastic villain.