A Few Best Men

A Few Best Men – CATCH IT (B+) 'A Few Best Men" is a trashy, dirty and raw Australian version of The Hangover. Mostly people will find this version very offending and generic but I think it's funny and hilarious. It's not important that everything should be high budgeted and classy. Most of the times these kind of movies make you laugh hard. The highlight of the movie is defiantly the wedding speech by the groom's best friend Kevin Bishop "Graham". The whole cast manage to do some of the most gross and dirtier scenes ever with Big Australian Sheep. Xavier Samuel is great as a groom trying to save his wedding from being a disastrous mess. Kevin Bishop literally stole the show first with his crazy Hitler mustaches and hairs and later with his Wedding Speech and as the Sheep hand raper. Even I was happy when Xavier slaps Tim Draxl, I wanted to do that the moment he appeared on screen. Kris Marshall is funny. Rebel Wilson is good but she doesn't have many dialogues or scenes as always. Laura Brent is gorgeous and Olivia Newton-John is over the top as required. On the whole, it's a crazy dirty trashy fun entertainer. I enjoyed it!

David (Xavier Samuel) is about to marry Mia (Laura Brent) , whom he barely knows but fell deeply in love with her on beach vacation. For their ceremony they have chosen the town of her parents, in Australia, and the British David will travel there with his best friends: Luke (Tim Draxl), his main best man, tormented because he has just gotten out of a romantic relationship; Tom (Kris Marshall), who goes through absolutely everything and is a complete party animal; and Graham (Kevin Bishop) with lots of complexes. Mia's parents (Olivia Newton-John, Jonathan Biggins) will have no choice but to shelter this strange gang, first with excitement but then, after the wreak havoc they will cause at the bachelor party, with true horror and concern. Chaos emerges as the four accidentally steal drugs, are chased by a mobster, and get the father-in-law's prized sheep stoned. Will the wedding go as planned?. For better for worse... just got much, much worse !. Keep your friends close, but don't invite them to your wedding !. Is it a bad idea to shag the mother-in-law?. I'm really sorry I shot you at your wedding. Australia! Haven't you seen Wolf Creek?. Who takes a gimp mask to a wedding?. The boofhead. The groom. The bridesman. The ratbag. The mother of the bride. The knob end.

Australian Stephan Elliot directs Laura Brent, Xavier Samuel, Kris Marshall, Kevin Bishop, Tim Draxl, Olivia Newton-John, Elizabeth Debicki, Rebel Wilson, Jonathan Biggins and the ram Ramsy in this comedy co-produced by the United Kingdom and Australia, so there are actors from both countries. A silly and fun comedy and filming took place in Blue Mountains, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia and Piccadilly Circus, Piccadilly, Londres, . The picture contains silly happenings, tongue-in-cheek, grotesque situations and above all, humor. Dealing with a group of friends take a trip to celebrate a bachelor party, and a wedding during which they will suffer disconcerting events and rediscover themselves.

A team of Australian/British actors lead the cast of this riotous comedy in which a group of youngsters, friends from university, get together to celebrate a bachelor party and a wedding with unexpected results. Directed by Stephan Elliot and written/produced by Dean Craig , this is a fun and not at all politically correct cross between ¨Rough Night¨ (2017), ¨The Hangover¨(2009), "Very bad things" (1998) and ¨Weekend at Bernie's¨ (1989), also featuring supporting performances by Rebel Wilson as the rebel daughter, Jonathan Biggins as the unfortunate politician father and special mention for Olivia Newton-John interpreting an uninhibited 'mother of the bride'.

The film results to be a crazy comedy aimed at a twenty-something audience, with a festive, uninhibited tone, with sexual humor in dating and friendship situations; but the jokes don't work at times, turning out to be vulgar and simple. Dirty humor is sometimes cheesy and gross-out with numerous naughty and picaresque situations such as sex jokes, bad taste and adult scenes , abounding sexual references. The actors son sympathetic and the directing is good, but the story is totally ridiculous, though there're brief laughs some times in the film. The film is average, but the fact is that it is also slighly funny. The characters are nothing more than stereotypes, clichés, with unbelievable performances that are not helped by a quirky plot.

The film was uneven but professionally directed by Stephan Elliot. Director Stephan Elliott is most well known for his comedy-drama film ¨Adventures of Priscilla, queen of the desert¨ (1994), one of two hit Australian movies released that year, along with Muriel's Wedding . Stephan ha made a few film with hits and flops, such as: ¨Easy Virtue¨, ¨Welcome to Woop Woop¨, ¨Eye of the Beholder¨, ¨Frauds¨ , ¨Rio, Eu Te Amo¨, ¨Black oasis¨, ¨Horizon¨, and ¨Swinging Safari¨. ¨A Few Best Men¨ (2011) rating: 5.5/10. Passable and acceptable but no notable.

You meet the girl of your dreams, and with the feeling being mutual, decide to fast track the romance into marriage. It's one of the big decisions in life, and so you engage some help from your pals, who happen to be some of the most disorganized bunch ever, unintentionally lining up what would be one of life's most memorable events with a series of mishaps and accidents that are just waiting to happen, from run ins with drug dealers, abuse of drugs and drink, and an animal featured somewhere as well. No this is not The Hangover films, although at first glance A Few Best Men may seem to tread on similar territory.

Unlike the American films that focus on extreme shenanigans, A Few Best Men may deal with similar wedding blues in comedic fashion, but was rather a bit more restrained in its grossness, although toilet humour is something staple that is never too far away and utilized when there's a need to for maximum effect. This Australian production follows a more British route with witty repartee, and quirky, zany characters peppering the landscape, with probably the only sane people in the entire film being the groom David (Xavier Samuel) and his bride Mia (Laura Brent).

The titular characters refer to David's best mates Tom (Kris Marshall) who's usually the catalyst of problems with his indifferent attitude, Graham (Kevin Bishop) the somewhat dim witted follower, and Luke (Tim Draxi) who still can't get over the break up with his ex. Together they lend support to David as his best men for his wedding, making that round the world trip from England to Australia. Mia on the other hand comes from a political family, with a senator for a dad in Jim (Jonathan Biggins) whose more than proud to turn his daughter's wedding into political gain, wife Barbara (Olivia Newton-John, probably the largest name in this ensemble), and sister Daphne (Rebel Wilson last seen in What To Expect When You're Expecting). With worlds so different colliding together, sparks fly in similar, slowly but surely fashion to Meet the Fockers, with a scene being somewhat of a lift off The Hangover when the stag's night out turned into one big blur.

A Few Best Men sees the long awaited return by director Stephan Elliott, who did the acclaimed Priscilla Queen of the Desert. And I have to admit unabashedly that I'm somewhat of a fan of writer Dean Craig's work, after what he did with Death at a Funeral, dealing with something similar with family and friends' shenanigans standing out during life's ceremonies, and in a way this film seemed like a spiritual companion to his earlier work for the way it encompassed rip tickling moments over one of life's major rituals. It's basically Murphy's Law put on display here, with everything that can go wrong actually do go wrong, with a couple of surprise (some may argue convenient) twists thrown in for good measure.

The soundtrack is also noteworthy in the film, consisting of mostly evergreens and oldies from the 60s and 70s, and having Olivia Newton-John lend her vocals as well. In fact, her character becomes what would be the live wire of the film as it wore on, together with Kris Marshall and Kevin Bishop drawing the loudest of laughs thanks to their subplot involving their quest for weed from which everything got intricately tied to no thanks to their being stuck with contraband drugs, and being quite inept in helping the groom settle and solve the mess they got everyone into.

If one is game for ensemble films and buddy type ones where the inevitably lessons extracted will be themes on brotherhood, friendship and family, with lots of laughs thrown in from good measure, then A Few Best Men would be your choice this week during the summer season breather in between blockbusters hitting the cinemas. Highly recommended!

Billed as the "Aussie Hangover", this surprisingly crude comedy is more hit-and-miss than its American counterpart. There's certainly no shortage of gags – the humour comes fast and loose with both verbal wittiness and gross-out physical stunts – but plot predictability and some truly dreadful acting gradually diminish the movie's success. Whilst no-one from the cast really soars, new kid on the block Xavier Samuel (The Loved Ones, Anonymous, New Moon) acquits himself nicely as the love-struck protagonist and Love Actually's Kris Marshall is consistently funny as his immature pommy groomsman. On the flipside: Olivia Newton-John overplays her wild-child mother-in-law to the point of embarrassment, Rebel Wilson's more wooden than the Horse of Troy, and Laura Brent's performance as the bride suggests she would've been more comfortable in an episode of 'Neighbours' than in a feature film. Doesn't leave a lasting impression, but decent popcorn fodder nevertheless.

It is good to see that Australia is returning to the comedy idiom after such a long absence since Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla going back to the early 90's Having said that although I found it quite amusing the first half an hour was a bit flat and until it got into the silliness that most of the comedy consisted of it did not hit the mark. Olivia Newton John surprises in a comedy performance as mother of the bride and it was good to see this Australian icon back on the big screen. The absurdity of some of the situations that unfold is certainly reminiscent of Death at a Funeral but falls short of that comedy gem. Nevertheless it is worth going to see and has more laughs than some American so called comedies