Scherzi maligni

This is weird but wonderful movie that you are going to either love or hate. Phil Collins plays the role of Roland Copping, a creepy twisted insurance assessor with an evil sense of humour, really well. In fact the acting by all is good and would highly recommend you get the popcorn in and enjoy the fun of a movie that threatens to be scarier than it is.

Beth comes home to find a burglar in her home. During a struggle she kills him and is later cleared of manslaughter. However insurance investigator Roland Copping begins to look into the case looking for fraud. He eventually finds a fraud by Beth's husband Jonathon and begins to blackmail the couple in a game where the stakes continually rise.

This is an Australian comedy - oops! immediate turn off for me. And it stars Phil Collins - double oops. Whenever I see Phil Collins in a film my immediate assumption is that they couldn't get Bob Hoskins. This really needed to do something special to win me over. And for the first half it does - the robbery scenes are good and then Collins uncovering the fraud is very interesting. However the second half is all a bit daft - Collin's living in an unlikely toy-store house with a range of gadgets and Jonathon being drawn into a deadly game. It has it's moments but the second half is a bit silly.

The cast are mixed. Collins is not a great actor and hams it up - however here the film so overdone that his style almost fits.....almost. His childhood is not well enough explored and instead we are treated to fancy sets and fantasy sequences that aren't set in any context. Byrnes is good as the harassed wife but Hugo Weaving is lost with a stretched role where he has to jump from gentle husband to being on the same level as Collins.

Overall the first half is quite interesting - you don't totally know what's going on in every situation. However the second half is a bit silly and Collins loses any believability as a character. It's a little entertaining but the colourful child-like set takes away much of the dark mystery of the first half.

"Frauds" is a well acted, weirdly entertaining sadistic fun house ride. Phil Collins, who quite frankly can quickly wear thin, uses that annoyance to full advantage while putting the squeeze on husband and wife Hugo Weaving and Josephine Byrnes. Insurance fraud leads to blackmail and a living nightmare in the form of insurance investigator, Collins. The most intriguing part of "Frauds" is most definitely Collins's neon lit fun house where he resides. That imaginative set piece drives this film. If only it had concluded in a more satisfying manner. The resolution is indeed the weakest part of an otherwise winning movie. - MERK

Offbeat, a little unnerving and completely bizarre, Frauds sets a challenging tone for a supposed comedy from the offset with a bit of casual child death. However, when the film in question features Phil Collins talking into a Lego Phone rapidly intercut with extreme closeup shots of the woman on the other end, it's hard not to get invested in the madcap and wacky mania of it all. Stephan Elliott directs the film with a brilliant amount of Ozzy absurdism, the tones don't always mesh well together, jumping from between being a darkly comedic thriller to an outright horror but his pension for visual inventiveness more than makes up for it, playing like a sadistic funhouse ride. The performances all around are great, especially from Hugo Weaving but Collins steals the show and is easily the best part of the film, bringing an exorbitant amount of manic energy to his role, one that feels as if Phil the Shill from Miami Vice had gone completely loco, once again making me wish that he did more live-action roles. Granted the soundtrack is a bit naff, a bit too jaunty here and there and one that really could have used Phil's magic touch, but for all its faults, Frauds is a delightfully deranged little film, certainly a roll of the dice for its viewer but one that's a blast from start to end.

By far this is one of my favorite movies. It is so different than the norm that Hollywood puts out. I came across it one morning on one of the movie channels. I watched the last 45 minutes of it, but was so intrigued I had to track down the movie. I finally found a copy on the PAL system, got it and had it transfered over to VHS. This was a few years ago. I wish they would release it on to DVD.

Phil Collins gives a wonderful performance, he needs to do more movies roles. Hugo Weaving is also a delight to watch, it is different to see him in a non-action role. I recommend this movie to anyone who is lucky to come across it.