SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Marco Trevisiol WARNING: Contains Spoilers I managed to watch Mick Molloy's film on DVD for the first time a while back. For those who don't know it's about a call centre worker (Molloy) who gets hooked up into the world of Lawn Bowls after the club finds out he's been a member of their club for several years just so he could profit from the inner-city parking space at the club.I'd seen this film before on tape a few months back and on repeated viewings, it holds up quite well. It's never hilarious but it does have some amusing and memorable scenes.My favourite is the team meeting in the call centre because it's based on truth. Anyone who's worked in an office environment can relate to the pretentiousness of the supervisor who rates each of the calls the workers up to the decimal point (e.g. 85.17%). It also illustrates the alienating nature of these places very well.But there are some significant weaknesses in this film - the romance between Molloy and Judith Lucy's character is a complete bust - formulaic and routine in the extreme. There is no chemistry between the two (heaven forbid) and just seems to be put in there because the filmmakers felt it "obligatory" to have a love interest. When they do kiss at the end of the film it almost seems like a spoof of films that have the female and male lead kiss during the happy ending.And Molloy's acting performance is a mixed bag - on one of the commentary tracks he wasn't originally intended to be the lead in the film. Perhaps it would've been better if he hadn't have been. He's good when it comes to some of the comic aspects of the film (especially the team meeting scene), but is unconvincing during the dramatic scenes in the film - acting like he's in a Late Show sketch instead of a proper character.The plot line and trajectory for this film is predictable from an early stage - I've seen this innumerable times before in run-of-the-mill Hollywood productions. It was so obvious that the entire film would end with the club's future resting on the final bowl of the tournament and Molloy having the chance to win the championship... can you guess whether he wins it or not? And the way the elderly members of the club is also a mixed bag - in certain scenes the film tries to make them into real flesh-and-blood characters, in others they go for easy laughs by relying on stereotypes of old people (really slow drivers, pedantic, prejudiced against younger people). All in all, the film treats them pretty well and people like Bill Hunter are given the chance to deliver fine performances.John Clarke's performance as the bad guy looking to take over the club for his own purposes is a definite plus. I think the reason why it's so good is said by the director in the commentary - because he underplays a role which could easily have turned into a vicious, snarling thug. Clarke avoids the obvious path and as result comes up with a sophisticated, impressive performance.I think the film's best strength is the comments and observations it makes on society today. It shows the appeal of the friendly, sociable atmosphere of Molloy's bowls club compared to the pokies infested, garishly designed structure of the upmarket Boggara bowls club where the finale is held.I especially liked how talkback radio was inserted (usually as a link between scenes) where inane talkback callers spiel all their prejudices against the usual suspects (refugees, the unions while the shock-jock radio announcer unsurprisingly agrees were put into the film.) However, a lot of these social issues brought up are cast aside due to the obligatory 'happy ending. I mean, what if Molloy hadn't managed to win the match with his final 'flipper' and win the title and, hence, save the club? It would've meant that the Clarke would've got his wishes and the club would've been taken over into a pokies venue (or closed down).As for the DVD itself, it has many features. The most noticeable feature was that there were two commentary tracks on the DVD. One featured Molloy and his brother (co-writer) as well as Judith Lucy; at first the Molloys provide some interesting insights into the ideas of the film, but then it becomes like a Martin/Molloy show in the 2nd half which is often amusing but the film is barely discussed. But that doesn't matter as the 2nd commentary (with the director and others) discusses the film in substantial detail. So they complement each other well.And then there are 5 deleted scenes (with commentary) and probably two of them could've been kept in the film. Thankfully, the segment with Prince Phillip's hat wasn't.And they also have the original theatrical trailer for the film, which actually made the film less appealing then what it actually was.All in all, this isn't a bad film, notable as being virtually the only Australian film in the last 18 months to gain any significant response from the Australian public.But one hopes Molloy sets his sights higher for his next script.

Bernie-56 This is a light-weight piece of flummery with, I think, appeal only to Australians. If you're in the US or the UK watch this only if you either (i) have a morbid fascination with Australian cinema, or (ii) you have 90 minute to fill in before doing the ironing and walking the dog. I can't see how it would travel. It's a mildly amusing time-killer. It's financed by the Australian taxpayer, which is probably an indication that it was fair bet for a non-starter in the first place.Having carped this is entertaining enough and captures the pointlessness of Australian suburban existance.In the flashes of the newspapers the props person took the lazy way out and repeated the first paragraph enough times to fill the page.In my bachelor days I lived in this area and parked outside the Windsor bowling club while I shopped at Rubenstein's in Chapel Street. This locale is now the gay centre of Melbourne.

Old Joe A lot of fuss was made about the new Australian movie ‘Crackerjack', with many people saying that it was great. If it was going to be as good as Australian movies before it, such as ‘the castle', ‘the dish' and ‘the nugget', I was sure to be in for a good time. However by the end of this movie, I could not have been more wrong, as I found, the characters, the story and the direction of ‘Crackerjack' to be disgraceful. This movie does nothing for the game of bowls or the Australian film making industry. Meet Jack Simpson - office-worker, drifter and total scammer. When he joins the local bowling club just to score free inner-city parking, little does he know he may become the key to the future of the club! With the Cityside Club in financial straits and shady developer Bernie Fowler breathing down its neck, the club is forced to enter a cash prize tournament. But with aging and ailing members, the team numbers are down. When they discover the enigmatic Jack on their books, they threaten to withdraw his membership and his car-park, if he doesn't play! With the battle lines drawn for a do or die match, the club's very existence now rests in Jack's hands. The main problem I have with this movie has to be in its story. Perhaps I have a different sense of humour to writers Mick and Richard Molloy, because there scripting writing was for one of a better word – terrible. I found some of the characters created for the film to be ‘empty', the love element of the film just thrown in for good measure (while us as the audience could not see how they came to be that way). Then there was the stupid element of the ‘flipper', the magical bowling move by Jack. By the end of the film I was totally sick of it, and speaking of the ending, it would have to be one of the worst and most predictable I have ever scene, as if it was trying to make the movie bigger than it actually was. I especially hated the final voiceovers by Jack, as they were totally ridiculous. However the story did have some good aspects, like what the powers behind a bowls club are really like, and what is like to be inside such a club, as a member or a fly on the wall. There was also some bad acting in this movie. Mick Molloy does nothing for me as an actor. I believe that he should stick to his comedy stuff, as his performance in this was below par. His character of Jack Simpson was annoying me by the end of the movie, being a loser in so many ways, and having an annoying nature as well. Dave Jackson (Samuel Johnson) is Jack's flatmate, who is another crazy character. The pair do share joints from time, which suits their metal state of mind. Jack gets involved with local journalist Nancy Brown (the strange and wacky Judith Lucy). Her introduction I have to admit was funny, when Jack says `Nice pins', with Nancy's reply of `F#&k off' between two older bowling patrons, classical. Jack then says the funny reply `I wasn't talking to you!' Yet as I have said, Jack and Nancy's romance was not that romantic, and did nothing to help make the story that great from where I viewed it.There were some characters I did like. The evil Bernie Fowler (John Clarke) was an interesting bad guy. Clarke was the one comedian that I believe could act after watching this film. His character really brought out those ideas of powers behind such an organisation as a bowling club extremely well. Then all the actors playing the various roles of the bowling club member were pretty good. I especially liked Stan Coomb's (Bill Hunter), who had added a very Australian flavour to the movie. His character loved a beer and his bowls.The locations used in ‘Crackerjack' are another positive for it. In particular, I like the way that the movie took advantage of one of the world's biggest bowling green in the southern hemisphere, that of ‘Corowa bowling club', near Albury on the Vic/NSW border, Australia. Crackerjack was badly directed by Paul Moloney, famous for directing many Australian TV shows, such as ‘Neighbours', ‘The Henderson Kids', ‘Blue Heelers' and ‘Sea Change'. Now considering what he had to work with here, both in script and acting talent, the movie was very hard to like from the directing point of view. Now usually I am a fan of Australian movies, as I want our film industry in this country to keep getting stronger and stronger. However I am not a fan of ‘Crackerjack'. I kept asking through my viewing of the movie ‘I wonder what the inspiration for this film was?' I still ask it, and have no satisfactory answer. The reason I have for asking it, is because of the film's before Crackerjack (like ‘the castle' and ‘the dish') that have really well defined stories, which are easy to understand why they were brought to the big screen. Yet with this movie's story, I still struggle to understand why the writing was done or the production ever started for it. Perhaps if the ‘Working Dog' team had helped on this film, it might have helped make it a better film than I think it is. That being said, if you have not realised before now, I hated this movie, I hated it a lot.CMRS gives ‘Crackerjack': 1 (Bad Film)

The-Gent I was very impressed with the latest production from Mick Molloy. As a fan of his, I was used to a different kind of humour than displayed here. He wisely opted with a more subtle, broad style of comedy in Crackerjack, rather than his usual low brow, in-your-face ramblings. It is, at times, inconsistent and un-even, but a decent script works past that, and makes for some entertaining viewing. Directed by Paul Moloney (who has directed almost every Australian TV series imaginable), Crackerjack tells the story of Jack Simpson, a bloke that belongs to his local bowls club for the sole reason of parking. When the club hits financial trouble, he is forced to bowl competitively in an attempt to raise the funds to save the club from becoming a poker machine haven. A familiar, and successful formula, that is handled well. There is no denying that the film owes it's success to the great casting of Molloy. He seemed to have a great rapport with Samuel Johnson, and excellent chemistry with Judith Lucy, and while the character is probably not a far stretch from his own personality, you can't help but wonder why he hadn't tried his arm at film earlier. To smooth out the in-experienced cast, the delightful Frank Wilson and Bill Hunter support, and often steal their scenes. They are two fine actors and the pair cruise through their roles with ease. Had it not been for the huge success of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding', Crackerjack would have made it to number 1 at the Australian box office, but when you consider what he film is about and who is involved, even making it to number 2 was an outstanding effort. All in all, a witty, feel-good movie. Great cast, great crew, and a great soundtrack, combine to make one of the better Australian films of 2002. 7/10.