Let's Get Skase

Rather like the guy who jumped from his hotel window into a cactus patch, making this flick must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Granted, Matthew George had no way of knowing Skase would cark it just a month before the film's release, there is now, limited humor to be derived from watching the antics of failed restaurateur and wannabe conman Peter Allessandro (played by co-writer Hulme) as in company with his inept henchman, he bungles attempts to kidnap the renowned fugitive businessman. Three of Australia's better actors, Alex Dimitriades, old stager, Bill Kerr and one-time Frank 'n furter, Craig McLachlan, playing a security fruit-loop heading up a rival team of Skasenappers, all try their best with a script from K-Mart. Skase himself (played by Wayne Hassell) doesn't even appear until two thirds of the film has passed into forgetfulness. There is something vaguely grotesque about watching these guys put the boot literally into admittedly an icon of greed and cowardice, when the family in Spain has barely settled up with the undertaker there. For a film aspiring to be an action-comedy it can barely lay claim to either.

LETS GET SKASE is actually a very funny very well made film. Clobbered by the sneering media upon release and sinking without a trace - or a Skase - this film had the unforgivable fault of bad timing. The real Christopher Skase of the title actually.....died. And did so unpleasantly....so did the film at the box office. Now all that aside and separated from the media clutter upon release what do we have: a great looking film with a hilarious caper mentality beautifully filmed with a fun group of well cast males. Even the Skase impersonator is astonishing. Lachy Hulme (who?) stars and writes and heads a cast with a few great surprise performances: especially the normally seriously dramatic Alex Dimitriades offering a genuinely hilarious droll turn along with handsome lifesaver/commando Craig MacLachlan. The real delight for me was the absolutely charismatic and goofy Torquil Nielsen who has one of the great faces in Australian films. He is hardly ever seen ...maybe needs a better agent to get more profile. Like the equally disastrous timing of another comedy release DIANA AND ME (Princess Di was killed) which starred Toni Collette heading to London to meet you know who SKASE is overshadowed by the real demise of the real character it was lampooning. The Title comes from the bounty idea actually proposed one night on National TV. I remember well sitting in a deserted cinema laughing uproariously and wishing there was a big crowd equally delighted at discovering what a clever and well made comedy this film is. The media of the day did their very best to off put the entire population of Australia and unfortunately they listened instead of finding out for themselves. But I did and so should you.

I remember seeing the trailer, and thinking this must be a funny film, but when it came to viewing, laughs ran short, but it was still entertaining if involving. Christopher Skase was scr..ing over the government, a con man of notoriety, who fled to Miyorka, his island paradise, a safe haven as you will. Here Skase, still alive, who has got a hell of a lot of Aussie folk, angry, where us folk would rather see him six feet under, is the object of a bumbling kidnap attempt, in return for a lot of moolah, he's stolen. This is headed by writer/director/and actor, Lachy Hulme (wonderful as Kerry Packer in last years, Howzat) who rounds up some eager volunteers who've had enough of Skase's games, the kind who are seeing red. Skase is played by a lookalike actor, who in the opening scene, where you don't see enough of him in this, for all you Skase hating fans, rises from a wheelchair, where we first thought he was chair bound. What an opening joke? Andrew Denton here provided a cherished moment, funny, giving his opinion on Skase, and how the majority of public hate his guts. Craig Maclachlan was funny as a personal trainer/fanatic, he was kind of an asset to this film. Alex Dimitriades was good too as one of the the team, who really has it in for Skase. The angrier he was, the better the performance, another entertaining highpoint. It was funny how this bumbling group go about their plan in snatching this man of controversy, an identity who is the arch enemy to a lot of blood boiling humans. But something came apart here or short circuited in this flick, especially in terms of comic status. Here was a good concept for a film, but I didn't get the succession of laughs I expected, although there were some good performances. I loved not just seeing Skase accidentally crashing into the pool on a wheelchair, (a humorous moment, among not many others) but also the animosity Dimitriades's girlfriend was giving Hulme, thinking of him as somewhat of a sham. Lets Get Skase is still an okay watch, but if you're seeking continual laughs, may I suggest Dags or You Can't Stop The Murders.

OK, the film is based on real life, and real life is complex. However, it does not pretend to be a faithful re-enactment, so WHY include a whole lot of unnecessary characters and plot developments? Nothing much happened in this film until the last half hour, and that was pretty silly. If it wasn't for Alex Dimitriades looking as cute as he gets, this film would be terrible.

In the last 10 years the only Australian comedy which really appears to have hit the mark is The Castle. Let's Get Skase attempts to tap into the Working Dog humour that has made the former D-Gen/ Late Show creators so successful - but fails dismally.

Australian comedy, once the backbone of our movie industry, appears to be plumbing a dry well at the moment. Let's Get Skase joins The Wog Boy and the disastrous Reckless Kelly among recent Oz films that provide you with one laugh for every half hour that it lasts. The problem is probably further reflected by the dearth of quality sitcoms on Australian telly at the moment. Sadly the best Oz sitcom of recent times is Hey Dad, a show that has been off the air for around seven years now and wasn't even all that funny. Greed was good in the 1980s and Christopher Skase lived by Gordon Gecko's creed, accruing wealth through his company Qintrex and then deserting the investors when the going got tough, heading to Spain.

This film focuses on the Australian public's outrage at his low act and the doomed attempts by the Australian public to bring him back.

Failing restauranteur Peter Dellasandro (co-writer Lachy Hulme) stars as the man destined to free hundreds of mum and dad investors from the debt yoke of Qintrex by bringing Our Man in Majorca back to face the music. Strangely the creditors are happy to ask a con man to retrieve a con man. Hulme's dress sense and facial hair should be condemned - he looks like Don Johnson in Miami Vice. The usually commendable Alex Dimitriadis also features, suffering at the hand of a dud script, while his co-stars (a cast of nobodies), to be very basic, suck. Let's Get Skase is like a beginner's archery class with most of the jokes missing the target. In the end Christopher Skase has the last laugh. He died several months before this audio visual obscenity was released, plunging Let's Get Skase into further mediocrity. For me, the best part of the film was the footage of Malcolm Blight booting that long distance goal to steal victory for North Melbourne in a football match in the late 1970s. The moment acts as inspiration for our head Skase chaser but makes the rest of us wish we were watching something near as exciting. Weekly recommended rental: The Castle (1997). Starring Bill Caton, Stephen Curry, Anne Tenney, Eric Bana, 'Bud' Tingwell and Sophie Lee. Just to remind you that Australian movies can be funny.