Gettin' Square

A solid example of an Aussie crime/comedy caper - but more than that, it's a brilliant display by David Wenham, who deserves much applause (and a good shower) for his portrayal of Johnny 'Spit' Spiteri.

Many things come together to make this a great Aussie film. The cinematography is clever and fresh, the script is, and the acting is superb.

Sam Worthington is Barry, recently out of prison, who lands a job as a chef in a struggling restaurant, run by Darren (the wonderful Timothy Spall), an ex-con trying to stay straight. When Darren runs into trouble with a suspect $200,000, and Barry's friend Spit runs afoul of the local gangster (Gary Sweet), they team up for a double-cross - but it's much more complicated than that.

The script is smart and devilish, but while it twists and turns, it never approaches ridiculousness. Written by prominent criminal lawyer Chris Nyst, you wonder who much is fact and how much is fiction - something here seems plausible.

That might be just the superb acting. Worthington is solid and believable, but Wenham utterly steals the show as the hapless, mullet-wearing Spit. One scene where Spit goes before a court hearing is one of the highlights of Aussie cinema of the last decade. It's stunningly scripted, brilliantly acted - and very funny.

'Gettin Square' isn't as good as 'Two Hands' - it's uneven at times, slightly plodding early on, and takes 40 minutes to really get into the script - but it's still well worth the entry price.

David Wenham as the nobel Faramir, hero of Gondor, is totally unrecognizable as the greasy-haired, twitching, whining drug addict John "Spit" Spitieri of "Gettin' Square". The film is great - it moves fast, never lets you lose interest and gives you a real emotional connection to the main characters - Barry, Dabba and Spit, all trying desperately to go straight but threatened with derailment by the plans of less-respectable acquaintances from their past. The story is great, the directing tight, the performances - especially Wenham's - top notch. His courtroom scene alone is worth the ticket price for the film.

I've now watched this movie twice and enjoyed it immensely on both viewings. It has an excellent script with great humour and is very hilarious in parts... particularly when David Wenham's character "Johnny Spitieri" is on the screen. David should have won an Oscar along with his AFI, FCCA & IF Best Actor awards for this role. Absolutely excellent! The rest of the cast also give very good performances and are well cast. Timothy Spall is particularly good as the crim who's trying hard to be a legitimate businessman. It's a good tale with enough twists and turns to hold your interest to the very end. Watch it for David's performance if nothing else!

Getting' Square is one of the zaniest movies I've seen all year. What really makes the movie is actor is David Wenham as Johnny "SPIT" Spitieri who plays a very dumb junkie. Some of you may know him as Faramir in Lord Of The Rings. Nobody could have played his junkie role better. I saw this movie at the Honolulu Film Festival and David Wenham was there.

Getting' Square is about three criminals who are trying to set their lives straight. Spitieri is just out of jail and trying to get himself off drugs. Barry Wirth (Sam Worthington) met Spitieri in jail, and he is released towards the start of the movie, and is also trying to clean himself up.

The Australian accents were a bit hard for me to understand at times, but that didn't much matter because the actors did such a great job. The court room scene that David Wenham did was acting at it's best. Nobody else could have played Johnny Spitieri better.

This is the second feature from director Jonathan Teplitzky (Better Than Sex) and his spunky, slightly off-beat direction doesn't disappoint.

Barry Wirth (Sam Worthington) has just been paroled and wants to get square (go straight) but finds that his shady ex-acquaintances and past are harder to lose than he thought. Barry and his mate Johnny "Spit" Spitieri (David Wenham) and new employer Darren Barrington (Timothy Spall) and find themselves pitted against the high-tech resources of the newly formed Crimes Investigation Commission (CIC) and old enemy Chicka Martin (Gary Sweet) and his cronies.

The cast (and a couple of excellent cameo appearances by Ugly Dave Gray and Gretel Killeen) is virtually flawless and David Wenham is hilarious (his court appearance for the CIC is likely to go down as one of the most hilarious misadventures in court, ever). Slick writing, excellent direction make this a very easy film to watch and thoroughly enjoy!