Robin Hood Junior

I have just watched this movie for the first time. I have long loved Yahoo Serious' first film "Young Einstein" and as such I had high expectations for this picture. The movie does have a few very funny moments but it seems hacked up and undeveloped. The American release is 23 minutes shorter than the Australian version and I'm wondering if many of the unsatisfactory issues in this movie might be resolved in that vast cut. I have no clue why the American version is missing 1/5th of the entire film or what that footage consists of but it lends hope that the entire 103 minute film might prove of more substance. As it stands now I give Reckless Kelly a vote of 7 which is under Young Einstein which I gave a 10.

Yahoo Serious is Reckless Kelly

In the realm of modern comedy, this particular Yahoo is very series about being funny, even if this sentence is not. 1994's 'Reckless Kelly' comes in the middle of his carrier as one of Australia's most creative film makers. Right behind the popular 1988 'Young Einstein' and right before 2000's 'Mr. Accident. A movie for each decade. No more, no less. I think he is due for another one about this time.

Reckless Kelly is part of the infamous Kelly Gang of Australia. While his rather big family runs the Glenrowan Hotel and Video Rental on Reckless Island, located near a national park, Ned robs banks. He is an expert marksman who can shot a fly at point blank range and also holds the record as the most shot man in the world. He rides around on a makeshift bike that is fast but likely to fall apart at any minute. But unlike Republican bank robbers who steal money just for themselves, he is a Democrat bank robber who steals to redistribute the wealth amongst those who need it.

When Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving as Sir John) decides to sell the island to the Japanese, Ned takes to robbing banks for himself, but only in America where his conscience is free to steal. American bank robbing turns out to not be so lucrative, but a carrier as an actor in a low budget 'straight to video' movie studio does. Aided by his Shakespearean quoting actress girlfriend Robin Banks, he seeks to get the money to save his island, as 'The Christian Cowboy'.

Several visual gags with great shots of kangaroos and other Australian wildlife mixed with Yahoo's smiley and sunny personality make 'Reckless Kelly' a likable and potential comedy classic. The classic is taken out of the comedy with some characterization that is introduced and not used to it's funny potential and some gags that are lamely delivered. The climatic gun battle with Agent Smith and the armed bankers is fairly amusing and caps off the comedy to create smiles but not belly laughs.

If you want to take a good hard look at Serious Australian Cinema it's worth a look and some laughs. If your particular about your limited time on earth to watch extremely quality funny films it might be better to check out one of his other films or one of the old comedic masters or Mr. Bean. According to Wikepedia as of December 2008 he is working on his 4th feature, a war movie about the Kokoda Track campaign.

Even though he shoots flies dead in the picture, the end credits lets us know that 'No fly was harmed during the making of this motion picture.'

I turned over to find this showing during the small hours, and started watching it out of curiosity. Young Einstein had a certain amount of wacky charm, whereas Reckless Kelly merely attempts to be wacky and ends up being self-indulgent and painfully dire.

If this was supposed to be a satire on Hollywood and how we should all 'save the animals', Yahoo Serious is about as subtle as a kick in the groin. But that's what you get from a man called Yahoo Serious.

Okay, so the bank shootout was actually quite good fun, but it's all downhill from there. Watch out for Agent Smith himself (Hugo Weaving), starring in yet another awful Aussie film before the Wachowskis gave him the 'Travolta' (read: career resurrection).

Serious humour may well be a bit of an acquired taste, it's cheesy and juvenile (not in a Farrelly brothers sick kind of way, more just silly really, with lots of rock'n'roll'n'motorbikes thrown in) but I laugh like a crazy man every time I see this. It is a bit disjointed in parts but overall is a worthy successor to the great Young Einstein, particularly the visuals which in parts are quite stunning, I'd love to see this in a cinema or at least in widescreen on a really massive TV, it's quite beautiful really. Serious again plays a lead who aims at supercool but comes over more as cute, in a cute-little-puppy kind of way, Alexei Sayle and Hugo Weaving (of Matrix fame) make good villains and our hero's trip to Hollywood is magnificently over-the-top. A real treat for the initiated, others should give it a go, you might just end up loving it.

We still got some laffs outa it but not as much as EINSTEIN. We rated it a 7 versus a 9 for the other. Still, Yahoo, is always interesting to watch. He tries some original stuff - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.