Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla

If this is comedy, it is of a very dark sort: it does cover territory that Bad Boy Bubby did with more verve but, to it's credit, it has a unique take that is less surreal and is more a vignette than a tale. This movie is a huge easter egg hunt for fans of Australian (and NZ) cinema. For example; it is very much a twisted homage to the "man alone" genre, so the decor of the main character's house references the 70s/80s, when that genre ruled antipodean cinema. Don't let this put you off if this is terra incognita, the characters are very universal and the strokes very broad.

Definitely worth seeing, ignore the negative reviews, you can see that they are from writers who expect a healthy measure of saccharine in the recipe. If you don't have a sweet tooth, this movie is a rewarding dish; the flavours are simple and bitter. This is its greatest achievement; proving that a film doesn't have to be a melange of complex themes and complex characters to be a tasty dish.

I watched this movie for the first time yesterday with my mum. Although it was entertaining enough and technically not a bad movie, it was extremely depressing. Both my mum and I were genuinely upset by the end of the film. One good thing though, because we bought it on DVD, we watched the commentary with some of the cast and crew. Although we know it was only a movie with actors, it was nice to see them out of character, discussing their roles and just being lighthearted. This was good for a movie like this because its main character was very lonely, and someone the viewer would most likely feel very sorry for, so it was great to see the actors talking and having a bit of a laugh in the commentary.

Long story short - I would NOT recommend this movie due to its depressing nature (my mum and I watch a LOT of movies, and this is the first time we felt this upset by the end of a movie), but of course, this is just our opinion.

So this won a lot of awards... if the awards are for: DULL. LIFELESS. BORING. SLOW. GO NOWHERE STORY. MIND-NUMBING. WHAT THE HECK IS SUPPOSED TO BE HAPPENING. I'd vote for it in an instant! I can't believe that one of the best magazines around, Rue Morgue, said this was worth watching. Maybe under the influence of cannabis or other harder substances. I watched it and wish I could apply bleach to the brain cells that will never let me forget this. The main character, a creepy ice-cream man, obsessed with a soap star, is creepy from the moment he walks on camera. How creepy? Know how in the first shining, Jack Nicholson looks like a maniac from the second he appears? Well that creepy. Other than that, and waiting and waiting for something to move this along, it's just a dull, dull, dull movie. But, in today's world, where everyone gets a trophy... I can see how this won some awards.

I was lucky enough to see a (sold out) screening of this at last year's Monster Fest. I went in not really expecting much. The trailer on the Monster Fest site had intrigued me but I still wasn't 100% sold. I couldn't quite put my finger on what genre the film was and whether I would like it.

That all changed as soon as it started playing. From the start, I empathised with the main character, Warren (played by Glenn Maynard), whose life revolved around his ice-cream business and Katey George (played by Kyrie Capri), an actress from a Neighbours-esque soap drama.

The film blurred the lines between reality and fiction as Warren daydreamed of what his life would be like with Katey George.

There were dark elements that were startlingly juxtaposed with comedic ones. One second I was relaxed and jovial and the next I was clutching the arm rest. Usually I'm pretty good at predicting story lines but not this one!

I would recommend this to anyone who is sick of mainstream films and the same plots over and over. This is one twisted and funny little film that kept the surprises coming. I hope to see more from the writers and the director of this film soon.

I read a review of this movie suggesting there was some novel twists in the movie, unlike standard mainstream movies.

I was expecting fledgling auteurs to be making a mark in Australian cinematic history.

How wrong I was.

Being a native of west Melbourne suburbs, I found the locations were recognizable and accurately reflected the demographic in this movie. These being drug addicts and life's losers.

That was something I could suggest was positive about this movie. Along with nice cinematography and reasonable editing.

The script was slow, lacking vitality and the acting was dreary(Glenn Maynard stood out as particularly bad), uninspiring and flat. The characters were 2D and the plot was banal. Using periodic incidents of violence to make up for a missing story.

If this was a student film I would say it was a good first effort.

I am guessing that the cast and crew are trying to make their way in a 'cliquey' closed business and they have put this together to do something and prove their skills. Which are demonstrable in part but the movie failed as a whole.

Sad that lots of hard work has resulted in such a poor result. 2 stars - 1 is for effort, not for cinematic merit