Idiot Box

i thought this movie was really cool when it came out dark, funny,real. filled with jerks and sensitive people good bad and ugly. Overall still enjoyable. I loved the music i loved jeremy sims and robyn loau. I also thought ben mendelson was awesome in his character. Maybe you don't get Aussie humour. Thats OK But there are lots of others who do! Sure The Boys is good but not as funny and enjoyable as Idiot Box. I would recommend this and Two Hands, and another movie that has bryan Brown and Toni Collette in it its set in the 60s, its very good, not that old, as some beaut Aussie films. plus Shine by Scott Hicks brilliant movie,

A grim, gritty and uncompromising look at slacker life in the western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. A similar mind set to FIGHT CLUB, THE GRADUATE, SUBURBIA and even A CLOCKWORK ORANGE - young men with no future, with nothing to do but spew hate at the establishment around them. An underrated, under appreciated and highly engrossing film. Watch this film and you'll feel like swigging a case of VB and smashing the empties against a brick wall.

Look, I applaud any Australian movie that tries to tell a story about contemporary life in this country, but time and time again local film makers either make movies too derivative of overseas releases ("the Australian 'Scream'", "the Australian 'Pulp Fiction'"), or sabotage themselves with basically lousy and unconvincing characters. 'Idiot Box' does both. Everything about it is seen-it-all-before. The friendship between two losers, one supposedly sensitive, the other self destructive, the half baked robbery plan, the "ironic" use of pop culture references (in this case the corny cutting between the on screen story and the TV shows the characters watch), c'mon, this is supposed to be original and innovative movie making?

The characters of Kev and Mick (played by Ben Mendelsohn of 'The Year My Voice Broke' and Jeremy Sims of soapie 'Chances') are simplistic caricatures, who in no way are a true representation of suburban blue collar angst. Kev in particular is so yobboish that you never care a hoot about him. Mick's poetry and relationship with the girl who works at the local bottle shop (former pop singer Robyn Loau in a ludicrously under-written role) is supposed to show him as more worthy I suppose, but again, his character is so unconvincing there is no empathy or interest there.

A much more successful and disturbing look at Aussie surburbia can be seen in Rowan Woods superb movie 'The Boys'. Ironically two of "the boys" John Polson and David Wenham have supporting roles in 'Idiot Box'. Polson as a dim drug dealer, Wenham as a bank teller.

'Idiot Box' is phony and trite rubbish, and a complete waste of time.

Life in western Sydney as depicted by director Caesar with two nothing-to-do down and outs who plan to rob a bank. A few interesting touches in the visual department but the script lacked a certain bite to match the brilliant performance of the two leads.

What is needed for this film is a cultural reference point, that is some sort of experience/insight to suburban Australian life.

As anyone who has ever lived or spent time in the western suburbs of Sydney will no doubt know, the options for fun and excitement are, to say the least, somewhat limited. All that exists is a cycle of bad straight tovideo movies, longnecks in the park, and conversations with a selection of dodgy blokes in pubs...

Now with that background in place, we come to idiot box. The film, although a comedy, is no satire. It is more an accurate representation of the pointlessness and utter boredom of the Sydney suburbs an draws its humor from such.

A feeling of subdued frustration prevails in this film, in fact it is the general theme of it. The characters plan to rob a bank, however woefully conceived, is an extension on this, a philosophy that it does not matter whether they succeed, fail or even try, it matters only that they have done SOMETHING.

Idiot Box resonates with Sydneysiders, with Australians, it is an extremely relevant and poignant representation of a culture of boredom and frustration,a culture that lays its blame for this othersat the feet of others. It is not a film that translates well to other cultures.