Welcome to Woop Woop

"Welcome to Woop Woop" takes Australian cliches to the extreme. When con-artist Teddy escapes to the Australian outback, he finds himself drugged, unconsciously married and trapped in "Woop Woop" an outback town inhabited by zany hooligans.

I enjoyed it. Initially, I didn't want to rent it after reading several negative reviews, but I'm glad I finally did proving that critics are often wrong.

There's one scene which I won't spoil that hit the film's high-point, and let's just say I will never look at the Sound of Music again, or at least Mother Abbess.

The soundtrack was fantastic (especially the "Climb Every Mountain" remix) and the cast were great. Johnathon Schaech and Dee Smart gave nice performances, but the show stealers were arguably Rod Taylor and Susie Porter. Both reigned with charisma and succeeded in entertaining and disgusting audiences with their amazingly repulsive father/daughter performance . Paul Mercurio also makes a humorous cameo reiterating one of the stricter rules of "Woop Woop" ~ "Nobody leaves".

Although some scenes caused me to wince, such as the Woop Woop abbatoir scenes and a funny, yet disturbing incestual relationship, I suggest you check it out.

Welcome to Woop Woop is a brilliant satire of Australian culture.

7.5/10

I'd never heard of this movie, never knew Rod Taylor was Australian (this from someone who saw Hitchcock's "The Birds" in a theater during its initial release) and I really need to see it again when it is not interrupted every five minutes by a string of commercials, as on the Sinclair (Charge!) station where I did see it. No need to say much more; the other reviews tell you as much as you need to know, but I will say the opening sequence in New York probably probably nails the world's view of American gun culture and the two endings (preceding and following the closing credits) are worth the wait.

I did love the throwaway line about the asbestos mine burning for weeks.

One of the wonderful aspects of cinema is that all the various originality of a culture can be presented, in any combination, with their indigenous visual and aural realities. The arid outback, the aussie dialect, and the Down Under idea of Wacky combine in this oh-so-funny film to bring you to tears from laughing so hard. You'll find yourself rewinding to see a great slapstick scene again, or to hear exactly what someone said. A quick take will clarify a confusing one several scenes earlier causing renewed laughter yet again. When the credits began rolling I began laughing again at remembered shots still teasing my memory. And laughter isn't all this film has to offer - bits of poignance, ire, and mystery are added to the recipe to round out its flavor. The story could only have been told in Australia by Australians to acheive so great result. So, Laugh me dead, Mate, if this wasn't a gem of a film!

I am quite amused that Australians have some sort of issue with how "this portrays them," which makes no sense to me whatsoever. You don't hear Americans complaining when a film like Deliverance is made. Give the rest of the world some credit. Its as if every export must be somehow ennobling to the country of origin. This is ridiculous. I suppose a case could be made for this insofar as apparently Australian tax dollars went to support this film (why any country, which no doubt has problems with poverty and so forth as all countries do, would spend precious tax dollars on movies, is another issue altogether). But come on folks. Its not as if every Australian is some kind of brilliant, witty intellectual any more than that is true of any other country. I wonder if people whined about the portrayal of rural Scots when The Wicker Man was released. Having the idea that somehow characters in film must be idealized ethnic, racial, or national archetypes dooms any movie to being insufferably boring. No doubt Australia, just like the United States, has its own home-grown version of rednecks. And if not, so what. Does anyone really think that this is going to set some expectations of what Australians are like abroad?

Welcome to Woop Woop is not a brilliant film, but I found it entertaining and offbeat enough. From the beginning it is clear that the film doesn't take itself very seriously. I enjoyed the performances in this film, and the ending with the giant kangaroo actually made me chuckle a bit because I never thought they would attempt to use something that silly. I guess some people who were for some reason desiring realism or plausibility in this farce, were upset by this. I, on the other hand, applaud the use of nonsense like this. Were the rest of the film some kind of serious drama, this would have been idiotic, but given the film's tone, I thought it was an appropriate device.

There's a time for serious fare and a time for silly movies, and this one is extremely silly, but good-naturedly so. It is beyond my comprehension how someone could get angry over something so harmless.

Director Stephan Elliott had a big hit with "Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" back in 1994. This is his 1997 followup which was a huge bomb. I like it, but it's easy to see why it failed.

A con man (Jonathan Schaech) travels to Australia to kidnap some rare exotic birds (don't ask). He is unexpectedly sexually attacked by a VERY aggressive young woman, and she knocks him out, drugs him and takes him to her hometown, Woop Woop, and proclaims he's her husband. Woop Woop is in the middle of nowhere, has a population of 50 and is definetely a strange place--Rodgers + Hammerstein songs are blasting from speakers all day (!!!), they kill kangaroos and make them into dog food and no one is ever allowed to leave the town. Schaech wants out...but can he make it?

To say this movie is bizarre is an understatement--it's VERY weird! Everyone overacts to the extreme (especially Schaech) and wear very weird, colorful costumes (I mean that in a good way). The script goes rambling all over the place, most lines make no sense and then there's the non-stop R&H songs! Still, it is very funny (if a little sick at times) and you can't take your eyes away from it.

The acting is, as I said, over the top but great. Schaech gets right in the mood of things from the beginning--he's very lighthearted, grinning continuously and gives his all to his lines. He's also handsome and hunky and has a few nude scenes. Also Rod Taylor chews the scenery again, and again, and again, and AGAIN as Daddy-O--the leader of the town.

It does lag a little at the end and it's definetely not for all tastes but totally off-beat and fun--particularly the opening in NYC and the last scene with...well, you'll know! A must-see for R&H fans.