Mr. Reliable

This movie is a gem. No car chases. No monsters. No real bad guys (although the cops are keystonesque) You will not be able to guess what is going to happen next to this fellow. This is a fun movie for the whole family. A slice of the 60's and a slice of Australia. Good on ya!

"Mr. Reliable is an excellent movie to watch in mixed company. Most importantly, all the Australian actor's dialects are understandable. The violence is limited to some wild shooting, there are bursts of biting comedy, and as the "hostage" drama progresses the outcome is always in doubt. In addition, a marvelous 60s soundtrack adds tremendously. Best of all, the entire story is based on fact. For a movie that is forty years old, it does not seem dated, even with the "flower power" dress and weird looking vintage automobiles. If the whole movie seems ridiculous, it is, and that is what keeps you watching to see how much further things can spiral out of control. Great movie. - MERK

MR. RELIABLE is a cool, relaxed and unusual mixture of comedy, crime and satire. It´s in the late sixties and Wally is a former prisoner who wants to settle down with his new girlfriend, but by a misunderstanding the couple and her little kid are trapped in a house on the Australian countryside, with the police thinking that Wally is holding the woman and the kid hostages. The film contains many charming and humoristic moments as the drama goes on, partly due to the crowd gathering outside the house. They have hippie parties and barbeques, some teenagers make love when a mother sees them, a journalist wants to interview Wally´s girlfriend about her underwear and so on. The filmmakers want to make a satire about media and people´s reactions to a tense situation, and I think they were inspired by Milos Forman´s HAIR and some "serious" hostage films. This is a cool film.

I saw Mr. Reliable a long time ago, and I remember it left me with a good feeling. It's about a misunderstanding between the main character and the police, which leads to many funny situations.

Most of the action in the film took place in the house where Wally and his girlfriend were in and its surroundings, and even so the film was never boring. The main characters where likable, so there were lots of suspense as you wondered what would happen to them next, since they were surrounded.

The best of the film, in my opinion, begins when people and reporters gather outside the house: it provided amusing moments, which sometimes could give the viewer a nostalgic feeling.

This film failed terribly at the box office. It's a really funny film. Colin friel's appearance, should've brought people in. Jacqueline Mackenzie is wonderfully cast. Despite being made in 1996, it depicts an bygone era, of the '60's.