Jogo Sujo

Sad to say, but despite a fantastic cast, great design and some genuine laughs, "Dirty Deeds" is ultimately a disappointment. A frenetic comedy set in the Sydney mob scene circa 1969, David Caesar's tale of cross and double-cross does admittedly have a lot going for it if you're not too picky. Bryan Brown has one of his most engaging roles in years as mobster Barry Ryan, head of the pokie rackets in Sydney. Toni Collette is equally good as his no-nonsense wife, while a solid cast of Aussie professionals such as William MacInnes, Sam Neil and Paul Chubb fill out an amusing ensemble. Even the get-a-US-release stunt casting of John Goodman, as a Brown's even-tempered American rival fits nicely.

In addition, the design of the film is wonderfully evocative of late sixties Australia, complete with garish curtains, funky wallpaper, beehives and bowler hats. The soundtrack, produced by You Am I frontman Tim Rogers, is an amusing combination of vintage Oz-rock oldies (the title tune, performed by AC/DC and covered in the end credits by You Am I with Tex Perkins)and knowing modern-day covers. But there are flaws, very big ones on both sides of the camera.

While he demonstrates a keen eye for local colour and ocker humour, (witness "Idiot Box" and "Mullet") David Caeser is no action filmmaker. The car chase scenes are very poorly shot and flatly edited, with little sense of perspective or coherence. The low budget shows in a severely unconvincing opening sequence, set in Vietnam, but looking all-too-obviously like rural New South Wales. His screenplay works hard to pull off a "Snatch"-style multiple-whammy climax, but the pacing is off and there isn't enough build-up for it to really work. The romantic sub-plot featuring Sam Worthington (as Brown's straight-arrow nephew) and Kestie Morassi (as Brown's mistress) is flat and entirely predictable.

Relative newcomer Worthington sadly sticks out like a sore thumb among the otherwise distinguished ensemble with an inexpressive, lifeless performance, which undermines certain crucial scenes. Morassi is however a definite find and will certainly be one to watch in the future.

A lot of excellent talent has gone into making "Dirty Deeds" and that only serves to make the end result an even greater disappointment.

Ah, yeah!

This is a nicely paced caper and its only real crime is the weak ending.

It's been criminally undersold here, and sad to report I was alone in the dark corner of the multiplex I saw it in. As all the comments here are Australian and a year old, the film has obviously been leaked late to the rest of the world in advance of its video or dvd release. This is lacklustre treatment of a little gem.

First and most important, you don't need to be Australian to understand the dialog. I wouldn't fault any of the performances, which pretty much match the characters' function in the film. Bryan Brown and Sam Neill stand out, inevitably, but John Goodman and Toni Colette are sound in support.

I smiled from the moment this started to the closing credits, laughed out loud more than once, and salute the repeated use of "bouf-head" as a term of endearment.

Truly, when will we Australians ever stop wanting to sell this "ocker" cliche thing to the world? I think the world 'gets it already' right? It's like the writer got himself a copy of an "Aussie slang cliche" guide and applied EVERY slang cliche in the book in almost alphabetical order! I mean what's that all about? Even words that haven't been used since the 40's. I am 46 years old and I have lived the sixties and seventies in Australia. People JUST DIDN'T TALK LIKE THAT! Sure we would use the occasional slang phrase or two, but nothing like the amount coming out of Bryan Brown's mouth.

Then the acting...Bryan Brown's character truly couldn't scare a chicken. He was trying to play the 'tough guy' instead he looked and acted more like an fast-talking and obnoxious ol'drunk! His scene in the gym was sad. He couldn't punch his way through a wet paper bag. His expression was'nt tough and menacing, rather one of frustration nad bitterness..

The opening 'Vietnam scene was hilarious! Vietnam? more like Dubbo! Its squeeky clean cinematography made it look like a cheap ad for Pizza Hut. In fact most of the movie was shot like a television commercial with all it's cliche characteristics. The car chase was so badly shot. I'm sorry but cars racing at 15-20 kmph don't exactly put me at the edge of my seat. I've seen better car action on bumper car rinks.

Sam Neil at his worst can't be good for his career. Tough corrupt cop? Right.

John Goodman and offsider just as bad. Cardboard characters with zero dimension.

Newcomer Sam Worthington needs a few years in acting school he DOES have an excuse.

Toni Colette was ridiculous as Brown's wife. I must admit that did surprise me as I have always been impressed with her.

The opening scene featuring Brown and crew with sledgehammers should have been alot more intense. They looked like a bunch of feeble old women as they smashed their way around the club. Half of them couldn't pick up the damn hammers. No impact whatsoever.

Overall besides being one of the silliest movies in Aussie Film history, this film lacked substance, story, dimension and direction.

A most embarrasing and weak attempt at an Autralian 'Gangster movie'.

In an age when the Australian movie scene is dominated by "larrikin" family comedies, gritty urban dramas shot on cheap film stock and whatever epic movie Peter Jackson gestates in the grit under his fingernails, David Caesar has crafted a small celluloid gem. A movie about the enduring Australian goal of killing everything in our path until one day the entire world will hit itself on the thumb and say "Bugger!" instead of "Sh*t!", "Dirty Deeds" is a camp classic, a knowing pastiche of the Australia of the early 1970s with more lashings of violence than most people care to remember. The film's depiction of Australian organized crime is in itself fantastic, the gangsters drink lager, run poker machines and swear a great deal. To see them in action is to wonder if Vincent Vega and Jules Winfield would've stood a chance against these corduroy thugs. Why, it's exactly like the real thing! Dirty Deeds - A Movie For Anyone Who Remembers Australian Criminal Activity. Go see it, you'll never want to visit the Land of the Great Wide Melanoma again.

True story, in the 1960s the American government was trying to control Vietnam and the American Mafia wanted to take over organised crime in Australia.

Both failed, we know about Vietnam, this movie fictionalises what happened in Australia and uses it as a metaphor for what happened in Vietnam (and what is happening in Iraq today).

It is fun, it is very Australian (it has Bryan Brown in it, what more can I say), it downplays Australian criminals abilities but shows them as brutal thugs capable of some quick thinking.

It is not an American bashing movie and has a pro-American message and an Anti-American message that Americans could learn from. Which is basically, America we like you, we like your Pizza, but if you want to go out in the world you got to learn to play nice because the rest of the world is much tougher than you and will scone you if you don't.

It also lovingly shows how backward Australia was in the 1960s (no pizza, no colour TV), so everyone gets a fair suck of the sav (if you understand my meaning).