Sucker

2015
5.6| 1h30m| en
Details

When Chinese-Australian teenager Lawrence cheats at and fails his high-school exams, destroying his dreams of a medical degree, he's banished to the country for the summer. There, he meets wily old conman the Professor and his cynical daughter Sarah, and learns that even the sneakiest scam can't conjure up love. Is it a true story? That might be another of Leung's tricks.

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Reviews

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!
Executscan Expected more
Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
conan-2 I saw this as part of AACTA screenings. I was neither pleased nor disappointed by this movie. The movie is based on a comedy stage show. I found issues with this as it was not particularly well structured. This movie shows a good sized budget with the fine cast with Timothy Spall doing his schtick. Spall is good but too much of a caricature to be believable, he pulls out some of his older pieces from Potter, Willows et al, the problem I had was that as a conman you should not see him coming, he needs to be believable instead he is a larger than life parody.The principle character, Lawrence, is supposed to grow if it is a coming of age. Other than the final act he seemed totally out of his depth until he suddenly became a master card shark.This movie needed development. There was stuff about con artists not having friends but I needed to see the loneliness of this life. The cons looked a bit high school, I can understand the opening as Lawrence learns but he needed to be en pointe by the end.
libertysky Cheesy screenplay, main protagonist has a really weird accent. I have never heard a Chinese guy speak like that. It's like one of those YouTube user providers who force a fake British accent that just sounds lame.I suppose it's the character, but the character is a loser through and through. It made me cringe to see a negative stereotype being perpetuated. Overall, the story seemed like it was written by a high school student. There were a few (very few) redeeming scenes that might have belonged in a better class movie.
A_Different_Drummer First and for clarification I am not from Australia and therefore I am disinclined to give this film a wonderful glowing review comparing it to Star Wars, Return of the Force. But special thanks to the cast and crew for trying this anyway.Now that we have that misconception dealt with, I will say that this film reminds me of the discussion on Media Ecology that the late Professor McLuhan used to give. The idea is to do the best you can with every opportunity to present media (entertainment) because society as a whole has to consume what is produced and you do not want to feed junk into the collective psyche.This film is ecological, that is, it never pretends to be more than it is is. It is an indie low-budget little drama that essentially stars a trio of 3 actors and tries to sustain full screen length. It succeeds but only barely. There are too many boring stretches and too many spots where you think to yourself, I wish the screenwriter had done THAT instead of THAT, it would have been a much better movie.For the first few minutes, you actually think you have found an Aussie Ferris Bueller. And then you realize, no way.
Zengster Sucker is, in some ways, a subtle coming-of-age film. It explores stereotypes, love, and perhaps most importantly, self-discovery. That's not to say that this is an solemnly serious film - there are plenty of comedic moments that exploit cultural norms and realities. Lawrence's (John Luc) journey with con-artist The Professor (Timothy Spall) and Sarah is, for the most part, exciting and edited skillfully enough to not be mundane. The film has excellent visual direction with camera angles and cuts all chosen cautiously and adeptly. Nonetheless there are some problems with pacing. At 90 minutes, the film feels a tad too rushed. As a result, both the story and the characters are not fleshed out as much as they could have been. For what Sucker is aiming to achieve, however, in terms of its thematic simplicity, the running time is not that significant an issue. I do feel however that another 15 minutes would have given the film more closure. Internet sensation Mychonny's debut on the big screen is definitely worth a watch. It's a simple but relatable story elevated by a wonderful cast and a pleasing tonal consistency.