Karry
Best movie of this year hands down!
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Candida
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
khaeotic
Satirical comedy shows with a distinct lean towards current affairs and politics appear on the world's television stations in a variety of forms. British offerings include the long-running "Have I Got News For You?" and "Mock The Week" while, on the other side of the pond, "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" are the shows which quickly spring to mind.In 2006, the Australians jumped onto the bandwagon of satirising current affairs with "The Chaser's War On Everything". The spiritual sequel to the award-winning CNNNN (the Chaser's Non-Stop News Network), Chaser's War follows the exploits of the titular satirical quintet - Julian Morrow, Chris Taylor, Chas Licciardello, Andrew Hansen and Chris Reucassel - as they embark on a voyage of irreverent discussion and sketch comedy, poking fun at everything from television advertisements to political/celebrity scandal.With the exception of the celebrities and political figures - most of whom would only really be known to the Australian viewers - the vast majority of the Chaser's victims are members of the general public; something which helps to keep the humour away from matters of location which may otherwise have impeded it.Donning a Teletubby costume in order to gain entry to nightclubs catering to the gay community, posing as bouncers and manning the doors of security firms, attempting to use bricks as legal tender, testing the waters of just what could constitute eligibility for disabled seating on public transport and even constructing a fake motorcade (complete with one of the Chasers dressing in bin Laden-esque attire) in order to infiltrate the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference; the Chaser's aren't afraid to employ what some would consider to be near-the-knuckle stunts in order to get their laughs and, for the most part, are better off for it.Nevertheless, as with many comedy shows, viewer enjoyment is a highly variable affair. If possible offence at some of the Chaser's brasher sketches is something which doesn't easily affect you, then there is a lot to be had in the way of hilarity here. While their more infamous exploits, such as the infiltration of the APEC conference or the "Make A (Realistic) Wish Foundation" sketch which earned them a two-week suspension from the airwaves do potentially paint Chaser's War in a rather negative light, the fact that they were human enough to admit when their brand of satirical black comedy went too far does go some way to redeeming them.If you're the sort of person who enjoys watching people poke fun at all manner of things simply because they can, then Chaser's War is a well- constructed offering of satirical sketch comedy which is certainly worth your time.
TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews
I was fortunate enough to be sent this by a friend of mine. This is the only thing by The Chaser that I've seen(I understand it isn't the only thing they've done), but I'd definitely be open to anything else by them. Five Aussies with each their specialty(you *have* to hear Andrew's song lyrics(also, him as The Crazy Warehouse Guy, and to a slightly lesser extent, Clive, is amazing), and Julian couldn't be possess a better deadpan wit), armed with a legal department for the riskier(law-wise) stunts take on, well, *everything*. Politics and news coverage(both mainly in their homeland; note that us in the rest of the world won't know all of the names and journalists that they go for... still, the majority of it will make you laugh), blind faith, common idiocy, etc. They see just how far service providers will go to make their customers happy, how readily stores and the like accept actual public service announcements(Open Mic), and, in one of the most memorable bits, how strict security at APEC was. Yes, they got in trouble a couple of times... and the very next week, they joked about it. Who can forget the Ad Road Test(where they see if the commercials give a realistic image of what their product can do), If Life Were A Musical and Anna Coren's Segue of The Week? There's a wide range of humor here, with silliness, cleverness, references, verbal and black comedy, and, yes, biting satire. They re-enact, parody, take out of context, ask questions of celebrities and the man on the street(ranging from the goofy, random and out of place(like ones from Trivia Pursuit, for example) to serious and vital ones... near the end, they see how much it takes to get your average ordinary guy to change his democratic vote), and use irony(often of precision worthy of a laser). At their best, these guys are *hilarious*(and they're just about invariably really, really funny), quotable and spot-on. While I do think they got too disgusting and tasteless on occasion, this hardly ever happened. I would say that anyone who got upset about anything these blokes did quite possibly misunderstood their intention. This didn't get a long enough run(then again, if they kept this level of quality up, I wouldn't want it to ever end); it seems like it's ended, with only about two seasons. There is plenty of strong language, and some disturbing content and bloody violence in this. The DVDs come with cast commentary(for every episode, I think), deleted segments, and a little behind the scenes footage. I wholeheartedly recommend this to any fan of this sort of thing. This is like Australia's version of The Daily Show(and it's definitely superior to how TDS has been recent years). 9/10
maz underscore
When you think of brilliant Australian comedy you don't think of Skit shows (Although I'm quite partial to a bit of 80's and 90's Full Frontal) or even Sitcoms - you think of SATIRE! Something that we Australians really know how to do well. (Eg: Front Line, The Micallef Program) We know how to take the pi$$, and The Chaser's War on Everything, is a classic example of how to do it, and how to do it really well. I've been a huge fan of Chris Taylor and Craig Reucassel for a long time. I remember listening to them on Triple J's afternoon show. They were, and remain, two of the funniest comedians around.Although I was sad when they left Triple J, I was excited to find out what they were investing so much time in that made them have to leave. (They were doing CNNNN and Triple J at the same time, so I figured this was something much bigger) And what an amazingly HILARIOUS show Chaser is. Biting political and social satire at it's best.I'm also pleased to say that it has recently received a MUCH better time slot than Friday nights and has been moved to Wednesday nights right after Spicks and Specks. THANK YOU ABC!! Finally I don't have to tape it! :)
thecosmicjester
Lets face it, Australian TV is for the most part terrible, but this is a real diamond in the rough that not enough people are watching. The Chaser crew who do the satirical newspaper and CNNN try something new by mixing live comedy, pre-recorded skits and political satire into one show filmed in front of a live audience, sorta like Rove, but funny. They love causing controversy and this causes some of the shows funniest moments, especially Chris telling his wife to "f-- off" live on breakfast television and Julian handing a novelty cheque signed by Saddam Heusein to the head of the AWB. It has to be one of the funniest Aussie shows since the Micallef Program.
