Director Stephan Elliott introducing A Few Best Men at Westfield
Bondi Junction Event Cinemas – Wednesday 29 November
Variety may have called it an “oafish, bottom-feeding yuckfest, leaning heavily on gay-panic humor and finding its metier in scatological jokes and verbal diarrhea” (Jeez, thank God reviewer Dennis Harvey enjoyed the movie!), but A Few Best Men delivers far more than toilet humour. Yes, it’s certainly not War & Peace, but then it doesn’t pretend to be. The movie is 91 minutes of sheer fun and entertainment.
A Few Best Men sees English groom-to-be David (Xavier Samuel) breaking the surprise news to his mates that he is not only getting married, but that the wedding is taking place in Australia. David and his best men fly from London to Sydney where fiancée Mia (Laura Brent) and her wealthy and influential family await. What follows is a wedding day filled with chaos, culture clashes, a runaway floral arrangement, a paranoid drug dealer out for revenge and a puzzled Merino sheep dressed in drag.
Olivia Newton-John plays Barbara Ramme, mother of the bride and frustrated wife of Senator Jim Ramme (Jonathan Biggins). Olivia literally steals the show as the proper matriarch who becomes a consummate party girl after liquoring herself up and snorting enough cocaine to keep South America on the map. One almost expects Jane Lynch to pop up next to Barbara during the YMCA routine to help her lead the pack through a drug-induced dream sequence involving headbands and a gleeful remix of Physical.
The only downfall of the movie is the absence of pathos to offset the over-the-top humour. The characters tend to be caricatures and you wish the actors were given a chance to stretch themselves with a serious or touching scene. Self-pitying Luke (Tim Draxl) spends most of the movie moping around or drunk as a skunk. At times, it’s hard to resist the urge to reach through the screen, grab the character and slap some sense into him. Rebel Wilson is amusing and touching as Mia’s sister Daphne and Kevin Bishop does a great job as bumbling best man Graham.
The jokes, a combination of English and Australian humour, come thick and fast, taking the viewer on a rollercoaster ride of fun and derision. If you need a good laugh and don’t mind outrageous humour, then this is the movie to see. My only regret was not being part of the cast. They were obviously having a great time shooting the movie and one can only hope that the special features will contain outtakes and a gag reel when the movie is released onto DVD.
John Farrar, who penned many of Olivia Newton-John’s hits over the years, co-wrote the movie’s theme song, Weightless, with his son Max. The track, performed by Olivia during the end credits, is hopefully a prelude to her forthcoming dance and remixes album.
A Few Best Men hits Aussie screens on 26 January 2012.
Olivia Newton-John plays Barbara Ramme, mother of the bride and frustrated wife of Senator Jim Ramme (Jonathan Biggins). Olivia literally steals the show as the proper matriarch who becomes a consummate party girl after liquoring herself up and snorting enough cocaine to keep South America on the map. One almost expects Jane Lynch to pop up next to Barbara during the YMCA routine to help her lead the pack through a drug-induced dream sequence involving headbands and a gleeful remix of Physical.
The only downfall of the movie is the absence of pathos to offset the over-the-top humour. The characters tend to be caricatures and you wish the actors were given a chance to stretch themselves with a serious or touching scene. Self-pitying Luke (Tim Draxl) spends most of the movie moping around or drunk as a skunk. At times, it’s hard to resist the urge to reach through the screen, grab the character and slap some sense into him. Rebel Wilson is amusing and touching as Mia’s sister Daphne and Kevin Bishop does a great job as bumbling best man Graham.
The jokes, a combination of English and Australian humour, come thick and fast, taking the viewer on a rollercoaster ride of fun and derision. If you need a good laugh and don’t mind outrageous humour, then this is the movie to see. My only regret was not being part of the cast. They were obviously having a great time shooting the movie and one can only hope that the special features will contain outtakes and a gag reel when the movie is released onto DVD.
John Farrar, who penned many of Olivia Newton-John’s hits over the years, co-wrote the movie’s theme song, Weightless, with his son Max. The track, performed by Olivia during the end credits, is hopefully a prelude to her forthcoming dance and remixes album.
A Few Best Men hits Aussie screens on 26 January 2012.
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