Criminal Ways

I love checking out movies that IMDb bashes, just to see if they're as bad as everyone says. I'm happy to report I freakin loved this one.

First, here's my take on Australian comedies (based on the two I've seen: THE WANNABEES and RAZZLE DAZZLE). They don't pack as many zingers as Hollywood comedies, but even better, they space out the gags & make you wait for them. The humour is more situational, often not requiring a punchline. In a word: subtle. For this, I'm sure many American viewers may be disappointed or frustrated. But if you like your comedies on the softer side (like the British DEATH AT A FUNERAL, the Japanese KIKUJIRO or even the American DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, I think you'll appreciate this one.

The plot seems old (a bunch of losers band together to pull off some preposterous heist). But as with many great films that share this premise, the beauty is in how creative the story gets within its scope. Here we definitely get a lot of creativity. The film is delightfully predictable, yet surprising and engaging at the same time.

The humour is irreverent but not crass. In fact, I was surprised at the R rating. True, the gags are sometimes "adult" (like the scene where a guy mistakes a dildo for his throat- mic LOL!) but there's never anything explicit or filthy like you might see in one of those American Pie teen flicks. As for irreverent, this movie is not afraid to stereotype people. I suppose it might border on offensive, if you've got a pole up your orifice, but it's not nearly as bad as one of the reviews made it sound. There are a few homosexual characters who act a little queenie, and there's a hilarious Filipino(?) character who can't pronounce the letter 'F'. But none of the gags are mean spirited. In fact, I found it refreshing to see a movie that's not afraid to take us there, sort of like the Sarah Silverman show might do. I think this is the beauty of Aussie comedy. It even makes fun of Australians (or is it making fun of Americans making fun of Australians?) so everyone is fair game.

My only tiny criticism is the way the DVD box highlights Ilsa Fisher as if she's the star of the movie when really she's just an equal co-star with the rest. So if you watch the movie just for her, you may feel unsatisfied. To me, the other performances steal the show. We have such a great lineup of weird yet endearing losers, you can't help but love every one of them.

I really enjoyed this movie, and the minute it ended I wanted to watch it again. If you like subtle, offbeat comedies I'm sure you'll like it too. Check out the movies I mentioned above as well as these other lesser-known gems: THE MAIDEN HEIST, the Canadian ZEYDA AND THE Hit-man, the French CRIME SPREE, and I've mentioned it already--you must see RAZZLE DAZZLE.

There are a lot of awful films made around the world this year. In 2003, "The Wannabes" stands shoulder to shoulder with the worst.

A pathetic film that tried to cover too many comedy concepts and failed through all of them.

"Angry" would be the emotion I felt after seeing this film. Why? Because Film Victoria was a financial backer of this film, so, as an Australian taxpayer, I have contributed money to rubbish.

A glance of the cover of "The Wannabes" in the video store was enough to confirm this film would be rubbish. I wasn't so stupid to actually hire it, but did waste two hours of my life watching it on free to air TV.

While Nick Giannopoulos and his friends proved successful in Melbourne with theatre such as "Wogs Out of Work" and the TV series "Acropolis Now", the idea has well and truly run out of steam. And yet Giannopoulos continues to peddle the same concepts in production after production.

Film Victoria, the Film Finance Corporation and any other Australian film funding body would be highly irresponsible to finance any more projects by this production team.

In fact, I've just emailed the Melbourne Film Office with "do not finance" plea to any further Nick Giannopoulos projects. I urge you to do the same.

The only positive thing about this film is that it did employ a production crew, so kept food on the table for a couple of dozen Victorians. Perhaps that was the basis for the MFO giving it the funding go ahead. But, it probably made those crew make mental notes to never produce a lame film like this themselves.

Can I be any more frank? I think the only amusing thing about this film is reading the scathing reviews on IMDb about it.

Clever scripting, well crafted characters, side splitting humour & wonderful acting....you will find ABSOLUTELY NONE of those qualities within the pathetic & smutty film "THE WANNABES" !!

After the local success of his last film, "THE WOG BOY", comedian (?)Nick Giannopoulos has fallen into the trap of thinking his audience would swallow anything he made, and this poorly executed & terribly acted attempt at comedy is full of immature toilet humour and lame jokes that make you grit your teeth in pain.

The turgid script concerns a bunch of low brow criminals who enlist the aid of a third rate actor to create a Wiggles / Teletubbies type childrens act as a cover for a series of heists. The film just lurches from one painful scene to another as it sinks to the depths of boredom & stupidity, and I can see this film destined to end up in two places...(a) On the IMDB Bottom 100 film listing, and (b), In the $1.00 a week dump bin at your local video library.

Steer well clear of this giant lemon !!

This was a great idea. But the over the top characters and the 2nd half of the film where the hysterical Aurora steals the child is a case study of what is wrong with Australian film.

The idea of criminals becoming a hugely popular children's group is clever and could have played our really well if the comedy had come from the real conflicts and characters rather than resorting to a ridiculous subplot that looks completely tacked on.

It amazes me what gets made in this country.

I think this was one of those very rare times when I came out of the cinema and really felt bad about spending $8. Very disappointed with Nick Gianopolis and the rest of his crew... I actualy liked WOG BOY and his stand up live show and I guess this was the reason I went to see this one. This movie is BAD. I will never see it again! If it will be on TV I'll change the channel! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!