Dags

'Dags' was probably made for less money than the catering bill for larger studio productions, which may go some way to explaining why it has the look and feel of an Australian short film that over-stayed its run time.

'Dags' is so Aussie-centric that it's unlikely to appeal to an audience outside its shores. It pastes together a mish-mash of caricatures from daggy, suburban Australia but not the sort an overseas 'Neighbours' audience would recognise. There are laughs to be had, even if they come from familiar territory previously explored by Australian TV comedy shows such as 'Australia, You're Standing In It', 'The Comedy Company', 'The D Generation', 'Fast Forward' and 'Full Frontal'. The David Attenborough-style narration has been done before and done better.

Not bad for a laugh or two, but wait for the video.

I couldn't believe how funny this movie was. It hit video, quicker than you could say Jack Robinson. Although we didn't have the best actors in the world, their trashy performances work better for their characters and air of the film, where if you had known and trained actors in this, it wouldn't have the safe effect of comedy. This is an infectious comedy about a group of dags. Every school has em'. If you really aren't familiar with the term, dags, we have a professor of human behavior to explain it here. There's such a consistency of laughs, that takes some great pokes at the CES, one of the dags, Takeaway, has been bludging off benefits for years on the account of his fake disability, where he can't control his constant use of expletives. Loving takeaway of course, this time around he gets a job, and almost chokes on a chicken bone. The local dag, Kevin, operating a video shop, who's obviously watched two many movies, has a set up operation where he has his mate (thick as bricks, who thinks artistic is someone who can fix cars) rob the place, every night, so he and his mate can profit, and pick up on the compensation. This time, they have a girl (another dag) Cheryl, taken hostage, the main plot of the movie here. Her daggy boyfriend, Daryl, (who you're just gonna love) would rather watch a video then get married, makes his wait outside the video shop, an overnight stay. So bonged out, he doesn't even notice his girl being abducted, or the wheels being removed from his car. Imagine if everyone was like Daryl. Again, in this there are Tarantino references, as there are also a manifold of movie title references, used by our sharp intellectual dag, Kevin, that play so funny in the dialogue. Cheryl too, thinks Mr Pinks a pussy, which is incredibly true. Cheryl of course falls in love with Kevin, then his "no brains", friend. Also we can't forget Prozac, a layabout, drug supplier and some other accurately written dags you'll get to know in this "must see" comedy, that will have you laughing loud. One scene in which there's a blunder, in a pre video shop hold up, where the hold up becomes an impasse, we have a chain of F words, spouted by our okay thespians, reminiscent of Steve Martin in that Planes, Trains and Automobiles scene, with that female airport teller. Even watching the end credits is funny, as is the whole movie, which I can't mention every moment or line in it's smartly written an funny filled script, as I would be from here to next Tuesday, doing so. Cheap, trashy, and uproariously funny this film is, which of course, would get shoved under the carpet, as compared to other Oz movies of 98'. Obviously they don't know style, when they see it.

This low-budget film aims to comically portray a variety of styleless, clueless young people who represent the stereotypical 'dag' type. The film has some funny moments, but also a lot of silly ones. Some of the acting is adequate, but both the script and direction are a bit unsophisticated to appeal to a wide audience.

The film meanders through these people's lives for a while before eventually finding some narrative momentum with Cheryl's kidnapping. The mockumentary section, which consists numerous short intrusions by an anthropologist providing observations about the dag subculture, is the weakest feature of the film.

The film draws on a tradition making fun of Australian stereotypes such as the ocker or bogan, which began with Stork and Dimboola in the 70s, and carried on to The Wog Boy and Fat Pizza in the 2000s. Though both The Castle and Muriel's Wedding provided successful and affectionate satires of Australian dags in the 90s, Dags, like Welcome To Woop Woop, falls short by not being funny enough.

Comedy is hard to get right, and this film only gets it half right.

This movie almost prompted me to start a one-issue political party to prevent Australian films of this standard from ever being made. The sad cases who made this tripe obviously had some rich connections who financed the film, but they should never have been allowed to release it. It is full of jokes which Ian McFadyen used on the Comedy Company ten years earlier, which weren't funny even then.

Disgraceful.

A dag, for those not from Australia, is one of two things: the smelly matted thing hanging from a sheep's backside, or an unfashionable or nerdy person. "Dag" can be used semi-affectionately, but it is usually an insult reserved for friends.

"Dags" is the story of a group of young adults living in a world of bad pick-up lines, bad clothes and bad outlooks on life. When one of the girls is kidnapped, her girlfriends get jealous and decide they must take action to correct this unfairness. What follows is thoroughly unbelievable, yet you find yourself laughing at the pathetic state of the whole situation.

The guy at the video shop told me this was the Aussie version of Clueless - it's *nothing* like it. Overall, it's a dodgy movie that endears itself to Australian suburbanites who can relate. Overseas viewers might not get the joke.