A Man's Gotta Do

I stumbled on this film accidentally after it had started, so there may have been some running points that I'd missed during the run of the movie. The film felt to me like a feature length sketch comedy show. The storyline is shown to us in intersecting segments, like a sequence of anecdotes, each with their own amusing or heartwarming finale. Most importantly though, there are enough characters and side plots to keep it from getting too stale.

The writing and acting (especially John Howard's) is all well done and had me laughing out loud many times throughout the show. So in my mind, it does rate high. Personally, I think it could have benefited if the story was told a bit smoother, rather than the usual CutToTheNextScene without having to build a brand new joke out of it.

As an expat Australian living in Las Vegas, I managed to record this movie from the IFC channel on cable this week.

I am saddened to search the web and find that this movie received poor reviews and has no comments in the forums.

Overall, I found the movie to be a wonderful representation of the Australian character. Perhaps its because I have a daughter who is 17 and speaks (and acts) just like Chantelle.

Unfortunately, much of the humor in the movie will be lost in translation. Subtle phrases and gestures that are so Australian will not be noticed by international audiences.

Overall, the movie was a solid B in my opinion. The plot was fairly linear but the acting was top notch. Even made me a little homesick :-)

I thought this movie was excellent. John Howard was awesome in his role, he had the Aussie bloke role down pat, I was in stitches!

The daughter had the quirky thing going' well, I didn't really like the mother in the movie, her acting was good, just an annoying character.

I'm trying to find out if a soundtrack was released for this movie, Some of the songs the daughter was singing in the movie were really touching, geez I'm soppy!

Seriously though, don't know why people have given this such a low rating, the plot was funny - not mind boggling - there were loads of laughs, would watch it many times over.

Another Aussie must see film

I didn't expect much, but was very pleasantly surprised. Sharp writing, terrific performances, good production values and a lot of laughs. Great to see Australians not pretending to be Americans. The director obviously has great affection for his characters and we come to share it. John Howard's reliably good (though his hilarious imitation of a cockatoo is an unexpected bonus) but the surprises are the two young people, playing Chantelle and Dominic. They are both great and we will no doubt see much more of them. Also the songs Chantelle sings are funny and spot on. I wonder if you can buy them? As long as you're not expecting car-crashes, handsome Americans who can't act or subtitles you'll love this film!

Enjoyed this one very much, witty and well-executed screenplay with terrific performances and a gentle undercurrent of humor throughout. John Howard was amazing as Eddy, the dad, and Alyssa Mclelland was pitch perfect as his gorgeous daughter with the voice of an angel. I am not sure why some find this movie to be less than wonderful, but I enjoyed it immensely from the first moment I laid eyes on it. It is satirical, yet evokes genuine emotion; it is very laid back, yet kept me on the edge of my seat as the plot twisted up in a knot and then unraveled (almost) before kinking up again. The fortune teller was a key plot device and the script ran a fine line between nearly serious and tongue-in-cheek in those scenes. Are all housewives in Oz as suggestible as Rebecca Frith's Yvonne? No matter, she was lovely and seductive. Gyton Grantley as Dominic wins you over from the first, too. I'd enjoy seeing all of these actors again.