Malcolm

This is an absolute gem - a really original, clever and funny film. Colin Friels and John Hargreaves are brilliant, the gadgets are hilarious, and the music (from the Penguin Café Orchestra) beautifully surreal. This film has without question the most unusual bank raid sequence on film. Enjoy!

I was very happy to find this awesome film on DVD for $10 yesterday. I hadn't seen it for ages but I knew that buying it would result in many happy viewings in the future. My first viewing reinforced my view that this film is just as terrific and engaging as I saw it when I was a young fella. The whole gadgetry was what I loved back then. Now I still love the gadgets but the whole story makes it a terrific viewing experience.

The three main performances from the film are all unreal. Colin Friels is so great as the awkward and brilliant Malcolm, John Hargraves is super as the dodgy but good hearted crim and Lindy Davies is wonderful as Judith. She is sexy and straightforward in a really honest way that is rarely captured in any film (kinda reminds me of Rachel Griffiths).

Big plaudits have to go to the writing/producing/directing team of David Parker and Nadia Tass. The info contained on the DVD explains to us that the Malcolm character was based on Tass's brother John who was, like Malcolm, socially inept but had formidable intelligence and talent. The final character is so likable. The fact that they put the whole thing together speaks very highly of them as a film-making team (another terrific film they did was "The Big Steal").

They did a great job on the special effects too. Low budget but iconic really. The car, tram, rubbish bins (!) are brilliant. The film's opening with the tram also highlights the very special score of the film. Watching Malcolm cruise around Melbourne in his homemade tram with the music in the background is a really lovely way to open the movie.

It's been years since there has been a funny, innovative, big-hearted Australian film like this (or The Big Steal). Hopefully someone out there can match it.

If you're not Australian you may find this movie a little strange, but extremely funny. It is great Australian humour set on a socially inept man, Malcolm (Colin Friels), and his love of trams. To make some extra cash Malcolm has some live in tenants who to say the least are very different to him.

As a Melburnian it was a pleasure to watch the trams, an icon of the city throughout this movie, and the familiar city scapes. This however was not the reason "Malcolm" was so good.

The acting in this film is spot on and the script and writing is wonderfully imaginative and original. If you like Australian comedy's rent it. If you've never seen an Australian comedy give it a go, if for nothing else but the superb soundtrack.

I love this film,if not for the sheer inventiveness.The locations are great as are the characters,i.e the key role of Malcolm,played with sheer professionalism by Colin Freils.The funniest moments I think,revolve around Malcolm`s gadgets.Malcolm himself is possibly autistic,as I can`t remember if it`s said in the film,but as we know,autistic people make up for their lack of social skills admirably and in Malcolm`s case,his gift is in all things mechanical.The scene that make me burst out laughing the most was the actual robbery where normal everyday bins are used for a purpose their designers could`nt have thought of in a million years!! Also the music used by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra is a work of art,as it appears to be tailor made as the scene ends up looking like a ballet,when the music pauses so does the action.My hat is doffed to the creators of such a heartwarming film,and seeing as Australian humour is very much on a par with British humour,I had no trouble "getting it". Overall,a fantastic film that should be shown every Christmas,as further generation will enjoy it aswell for years to come.I know I will

Like an Aussie Frank Spencer, but much less manic and brilliantly inventive, naive and slow Malcolm is an only son of an overprotective mother, who has died.

Malcolm loses his job and it's suggested that he lets out a room in his mother's house that he's inherited. Helpful neighbours make out a list of questions that he may have for any prospective lodgers and before long, Frank, fresh out of prison (this being unknown, of course, to Malcolm) and soon Frank's girlfriend, Judith move in.

They're still practising "crims" and surprisingly, find Malcolm all too eager to assist them in their thieving. Malcolm, of course, doesn't see all this as anything more than fun and an excellent outlet for his technical inventions, that include remotely controlled litter bins, that act as innocuous roving cameras that move around an intended target building and relay video footage back. Malcolm also has friends now, probably for the first time in a very long while.

The rather whimsical inventions, now, look pretty dated and whilst they're impressively inventive - a getaway car that splits in half, as it's actually two motorbikes joined together, but looks like a car...this is all rather Disney-ish, except this features adults only and I reckon will appeal to an older generation more, who might appreciate their comedy more visual and innocent than the rather more crude and broad comedy cinema of today.

It's generally a likable little film and whilst one (in theory) might find Malcolm's character irritating, initially at least, one doesn't for long and at least, unlike the Farrelly brother films of excess, 'dumb' doesn't mean overplayed moronically stupid. Malcolm is a character that we might know and it is this element that warms us and carries both us and the film through its many frankly absurd plot-lines.

Twenty-six years ago, when this film was released, I'm sure its comedy and success with the public would have been high. Now, though, it seems to have a very small but devoted following that is otherwise consigned into the realms of the unknown import, that is expensive to buy, even if you can track it down. I watched it as part of the 12 DVD boxset 'Australian Cinema Collection', which is Region 0 (region-free).