Funny how two Kiwis (John Clarke & Sam Neill) have made one of the best and most keenly observed films ever made about the inner suburbs of Melbourne and sad how the only reviewers who couldn't appreciate its humour came from the southern states of the USA. Perhaps the humour came out of references that were a little too specific for people who haven't experienced post second war Melbourne and the effect that the large influx of southern European migrants had on both the city and the migrants themselves over the second half of the twentieth century. John Clarke, who another reviewer rightly said could be funny reading a phone book, steals the movie as the laconic friend of Sam Neill, the weak but likable hero of the story. Clarke played a significant part in the writing of the movie, which has a much lighter touch than the book upon which it its based, and his character gets many of the best lines. Sam Neill is terrific as the hapless hero of the piece, Ms Carides has an appeal that no "thirty something" male could resist, and the supporting characters including "Cookie's" domineering mother, Sophies' fearsome father, Clarke's no-nonsense wife, the club's sleazy owner and his dopey flunkies, and the drug dealing Turk and his associates are all just flawless. There may be parts of the world that contain people sufficiently insular to not appreciate this movie's humour or the way it shows a weak man dealing with and coming to terms with the forces that have oppressed him and one can but feel sorry for them. For the rest of us its a both a movie to bring a wry smile to our faces and a warning against eating crunchy pizzas.
