Wog Boy - Der größte Zorbas von Down Under

Ethnic humour seems to be Nick Giannopoulos' forte, and subsequently 'The Wog Boy' is basically the movie version of his Australian television series, and his stage plays. Where all 3 mediums rely on ethnic humour, and being Greek is the subject of them. Granted, this film came out before the American affair 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding', yet the latter film was more convincing as a romantic comedy and as a movie. 'The Wog Boy' doesn't really work in that respect, and when I viewed this film, it felt like Nick Giannopoulos was simply rehashing the ethnic jokes in his earlier mediums.

Still, 'The Wog Boy' is good for a few laughs, but you won't find any substance to this film, nor will you find it that memorable. Vince Colosimo is a welcome addition, but he was better in 'Chopper'. I don't think Nick G. is movie star material, but considering this film came out in 2000, and he has only done 'The Wannabes' in 2003, this film hasn't really advanced his career. Still, saying that, 'The Wog Boy' is above average, yet quite forgettable.

*** out of *****!

Steve is a Greek man living in Australia since his family emigrated there many years prior. Since being teased as a `Wog Boy' in school, he has decided to live a Wog boy and be proud of his heritage. A run in with the Minister for Education sees him portrayed on tv as a dole sponger, however, when he goes on the show to defend himself he comes off the better and becomes famous. The Minister employs Steve to help develop new policies on unemployment, but is that all she is after?

I was drawn to the film by the unusual title – it is not often you see a film that has a racist term in the title, and I assumed I could get all worked up about it in a Daily Mail type of way. Sadly for my middle-class rage, this film has so much self mocking energy that it is impossible to be offended by it. The downside of all this energy is that it doesn't manage to cover the fact that the film itself isn't actually very funny. The plot is, well, pointless, which leaves it only with ethnic stereotypes from which to draw it's humour.

These stereotypes are actually pretty funny at times, but I suggest this film will generally appeal to those who identified with My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Outside of these the film has little to do and fills it's time with shouting and hand waving to keep the energy high. I enjoyed watching it as I was coming off a bad day of food poisoning and needed something silly and energetic to raise my spirits but I must admit that I did notice that I wasn't actually laughing very much at all.

The cast are pretty good I guess, despite all being cartoon characters in one way or another. Giannopoulos is enjoyable as Steve and seems natural in the role, a side effect of writing it I suppose, but most of the rest fall into one ethnic stereotype or another.

Overall this has energy and is silly if that is what you want. If you have a background similar to these characters then you may get more from it. But it is hard not to notice just how few actual laughs there are in the 90 minutes.

For what the wog boy is ( a crowdpleasing comedy) it is not bad. In terms of story the film lags, however there are afew hilarious sketches in the film, one being the scene where the young 'wogboy' is watching Skippy in front of the telly and decides to whistle for him with the dolmada leave he is eating.

To get maximum satisfaction out of this film, it would be fair to say having a Greek or Italian background would help a lot to understand some of the jokes.

Overall the wogboy does not compare to the stage shows of Giannopoulos (Wogboys, Wogs out of work), or even the hit series Acropolis Now, but if you're not too picky about the movies you see go see this, and to Nick Giannopoulos, who'll be relaxing for a long time after this, you were right, 'every wog has his day' mate.

The Wog Boy was a very funny movie, especially if you know any Greek people. It was great to see lots of home grown faces, and glad to see it do so well at the (Aust) box office. I always find light-hearted and funny Australian movies 100 times better than some of the dark and depressing stuff that is produced.

I couldn't stop laughing at the half Serbian/half Croatian - hilarious!!!

Being in the US, we tend to not get a lot of the foreign "ethnic" films. It's quite a shame. Wog Boy was quite pleasant. There was enough other story to avoid the "romantic comedy" trap, but in essence it seemed to me to be a lite romantic comedy. Don't let that detract. Nick Giannopoulos put together a story that was well constructed and executed. Of course, the characters are more "charicatures", but that's part of the fun.