The Craic

I saw this on TV and really enjoyed it. I had avoided renting the movie - just didn't trust the cover, but it's a very laid back oz comedy with heart and I'm glad I didn't switch the channel.

I love the look of the film - all gritty and contrasty, the colours and sunlit scenes shine brightly and create an atmosphere (gave me dejavu, but that's another story). Not sure if the look was deliberate, or whether it's just what the cheapest film stock looks like. Reminded me of 16mm film.

What the film does superbly is make it look like 1988. Not hard I suppose, since it wasn't long ago, but there were some nice touches that made it look like the late 80s.

Lots of genuine funny scenes. If you've Australian and been around a bit, you should like this movie. If you're from anywhere else in the world, there's a good chance you'll get bored.

8 / 10

The outstanding feature of this film is its "feel good" quality -in the best sense of that expression. I must admit that I'd never seen Jimmeoin before, so maybe I'm just enamoured by first impressions. Nevertheless, I laughed out loud more than once while watching this movie, and I left the theatre feeling glad that I had seen "The Craic." Can't ask for more than that can you? Go see it.

Jimeoin and a good many of his mates apparently were on the run from our Immigration Department in the early 80's. Many of the incidents in his first film The Craic are based on the sorts of things that happened to the lads and lasses as they made their quick getaways. We'll have to assume that he's now made his peace with the authorities.

I've only glimpsed Jimeoin on TV a couple of times but I'd imagine that The Craic probably mirrors his on stage and perhaps his real life personality pretty closely. If Jimeoin is a quietly spoken Irish Immigrant with a gentle but acute wit; an everyman good bloke who's difficult to understand, then here he is.

Jimeoin also appears to be pretty self effacing and disinclined to big note himself, which is a pretty good trick considering that he's an entertainer in his own first film. I wonder if he's as nice a bloke as he makes out to be. Nobody is that nice, and funny as well, are they?

The Craic is like a pretty well made home movie, one obviously written by Jimeoin. You've seen most of the really good bits on the shorts but The Craic does rise to sand dune heights every now and then.

The camera hasn't ventured in amongst the back packing world too many times and The Craic suggests that the time might be ripe.

Jimeoin is a strange comedian indeed. He seems to be better placed on the the stage telling jokes than in a situational comedy, and he looks extremely awkward in this movie, and tries to ring a joke out of everything, even some situations that are woefully unfunny. I have a feeling that the distributors thought that Jimeoin's name would sell this product alone, as the script is very poor. It appears to be about immigration out to get these two guys but at times it plods so dreadfully and is so incoherent that it is impossible to actually make heads or tails out of the dreadfully incoherent script. Jimeoin certainly gets points for trying, but maybe if he actually tried a little harder this film would have been much better!

This first major screen effort for Irish comedian Jimeoin has a few genuine belly laughs, but it's generally like the man's stand-up act: lots of smirks, smiles and the odd giggle with quite a few slow patches in the middle. It has an almost 'Crocodile Dundee' feel to it, ie. using plot devices to show off the wild Australian outback to a (hopefully) overseas audience. Not a totally disagreeable way to spend an hour and a half, but it's no comedic classic.