Let's Get Skase

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.

Getting Christopher Skase was really a big deal in Australia back in the 1990's. This film brought back quite a few memories of the public's outrage at Skase's escape from the Australians who wanted his blood. The file footage, especially the 'Denton' stuff (what a great show that was) gives "Let's Get Skase" a very solid base to start this box office under performer.

After the file footage "Let's Get Skase" goes about in a fairly predictable manner for those who have seen a few Oz comedies since "The Castle". Lots of oddball "loser" types fighting against a mightier and arrogant power. Thankfully as the film goes on one can't help but enjoy watching the determined Aussies, led by bulls@@t artist Peter Dellasandro (Lachy Hulme) and angry Danny D'Amato (Alex Dimitriades), trying to get their hands around the neck of the Oz holy grail, (that being Christopher Skase).

The acting is pretty hammy at times but suitable for the film. I loved the appearance of the slimy character Beneheim Bencini (George Shevtsov). For my money he is the creepiest looking and sounding actor in Australia (and a good one too, check out "Love Serenade").

The timing of the film's release in relation to Skase's death, as mentioned in other sources, meant that you would be seen as an out and out weirdo to see it at the time. However, at a time when funny Oz films seem to be as rare as a sweet smelling fart, it is a film definitely worth checking out.

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.

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.

I sat down to see this movie that was going to portray the infamous Christopher Skase in a elaborate kidnapping plan. It is not entirely in bad taste and has some very funny moments especially at the end (not wanting to give anything away of coarse), but to me and everyone I know the fact that Skase is already (allegedly) dead had absolutely no impact on the movie, for people seeing this movie I cannot stress enough that it is a COMEDY, it is not based seriously on anything, thats what a comedy is. If your looking for a documentary on Skase don't look here, if your looking for a laugh about Skasey look no futher.