Doing Time for Patsy Cline

It's too bad that the sweet little "Doing Time For Patsy Cline" only finally got commercial release in the U.S. in 2006, because its premise has gotten a bit dated in a post-Keith Urban/Jamie O'Neal world where Aussies have now taken Nashville by storm. It's not that crazy a fantasy for a kid to dream of getting from the bush to Music City.

The structure of the film musically turns around two parallel road movies, one a picaresque tour of the back roads of a northern New South Wales peopled with eccentric characters, and the other a fantasy "Wizard of Oz"-like imagining them all as alter-egos seeking fame and fortune in country music, intentionally mimicking Johnny Cash's bio (as later more seriously filmed in "Walk the Line").

The fantasy scenes are amusing satires of country music's rags to riches stereotypes of singers, managers and performances. But even the reality scenes are amusing satires of country bumpkins vs. Sydney sophisticates, salt of the earth station families vs. drug dealers. The prison blues jokes do get a bit repetitive as the film goes on a bit too long in going through every jail and jail music cliché.

Matt Day is personable and cute as "Ralph", the central kid with a guitar, a song and a dream, and his dreams are adorable. But the film is pretty much stolen by the scheming couple who pick him up as a hitchhiker, particularly motormouth Richard Roxburgh as "Boyd" who gets surprisingly more appealing and human as the film goes on. Miranda Otto as the object of their affections does Marilyn Monroe-like wide-eyed sexy yet somehow innocent very nicely, and has a surprisingly nice singing voice.

The song selections are a lovely mix of originals by the other Peter Best, covers of country classics and non-commercial country selections, such as by Emmy Lou Harris.

This film is like a country version of "Rock Follies", the British miniseries that satirized rock 'n ' roll fantasies.

Richard Roxburgh has barely played a false note through his acting career and it's not for his efforts that Doing Time for Patsy Cline falls a tad flat.

Had the movie spent more time on the road rather than been bogged down so much by the doing time aspect, and forgone the somewhat tedious ruminations of wannabe country singing star played by Matt Day and what coulda, shoulda been, the film may have opened up more interesting plot possibilities aka David Lynch's Wild at Heart.

All in all it's a watchable exercise with endearing moments and characters. With a little more attention paid to the storyline, Doing Time for Patsy Cline may have reached a few more high notes.

A simple story, common to any lonely dreamer, Ralph(Matt Day)wants to go to Nashville to become a country music star. With a ticket to America and a dream he heads off to Sydney only to be picked up on the road, by Boyd(Richard Roxburgh) and Patsy(Miranda Otto) On first blush, Boyd and Pasty seem to be an Australian version of the stock wise-cracking American grifter, stealing, lying and drifting to make their way in the world.

But this is just where the story begins. A fine performance by Roxburgh unfolds a character with surprising compassion and depth. Otto gives one of her better performances as the tender Patsy, too delicate to survive without the constant attention of her protective lover. And Day brings just the right touch of innocence and youthful arrogance to the young man who learns a crucial lesson from his world weary traveling companions.

If you like country music or even if you don't, this is a terrific slice of something that has the flavor of americana, but supplies the depth often lacking in American films. It's worth a look just for Roxburgh's performance alone-

I thought of Dickens and 'it's a far, far better thing...'. Yes, of course it comes across a tad corny but that's to set you up for the end. This is the film that got a country music hating pedophile into Patsy Cline and that can't be a bad thing. As for the comment about Mum and Dad being from either a beer commercial or the fifties, I can assure you I went on country holidays at grandma's sisters and second cousins' houses that could have been acting coaches for those two. It's also a film that gives you a real belly laugh about five times through it. Not many films that aren't marketed as full-on comedies give you that.

This movie is worth seeing for the music alone (if you like Country).

The plot is predictable, the mix between reality and fantasy gets very annoying after a while. In spite of this, it is an enjoyable movie on the whole, due mainly to the charm of the main characters.

The stereotypical "Mum and Dad" are right out of a beer commercial (or a 1950s Australian film). In fact the whole movie seems to be more like something made in 1955 than 1997. With most movies made these days with the international market in mind, it is surprising that someone made one that would be totally confusing to anyone other than an Australian.