This Won't Hurt a Bit

Caveat: this film is not recommended for anyone contemplating a visit to the dentist!

This pacy, funny, sweet, very offbeat black comedy is a hidden gem. It probably only lasted days at the cinema (I found it on cable) but is definitely worth seeing if you like your comedy left-field, like "Office Space" or "The Magic Christian".

Greig Pickhaver (a legend to most Aussies for his satirical TV and radio persona, H.G. Nelson) is great as the barking-mad-but-cunning Gordon Fairweather. A failed dental student, Gordon neatly sidesteps his lack of qual's by heading to London, and setting out his shingle there. This supposed loser finds the goose that lays golden eggs when he discovers a way to swindle the National Health -- bigtime. His hilariously slipshod "treatment" of his patients will make you cringe as much as you laugh (that tooth thing never fails!)

Jaqueline McKenzie gives a brilliant and very different performance as his endearingly daggy English girlfriend, showing again what a talented and versatile actress she is. Great supporting cast too, including Alwyn Kurts in one of his last roles.

8/10

This Wont Hurt a Bit is a good laugh for Australian dentists who worked in the UK in the 1950s gold rush of the National Health Scheme (NHS). Some of the scenes may appear unreal, but not if you have any experience of the NHS.