tristanhousden Reviews

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

Carrey and McGregor shine in superbly crafted comedy

[9/10 · 5 August 2010]

Continuing my MIFF reviews, I saw this last week with a packed house at Greater Union.

Firstly, it has to be said that it's a tragedy that this film's general release has been such a stifled process. The entertainment value of this picture, its expert construction and superb performances cannot be denied.

Carrey turns in what is possibly his best performance in a decade. It's bizarre, the way that his signature antics actually enhance rather than diminish the dramatic aspects of this film, based loosely on real life events. In fact, for me, the movie trumps The Truman Show as Carrey's true coming of age as a performer of depth. Ewan McGregor is equally astonishing as Phillip Morris - you'd swear you were watching the kind of unique romantic chemistry between two actors that arrives very rarely in cinema, and virtually never between two A-listers playing gay lovers; but the love story is only a foundation for what emerges as a kinetic, superbly told comedy-drama about the real life exploits of con man and recidivist prison escapee Steven Jay Russell.

Directors/writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa expertly handle the tensions of comic and dramatic performance and also prove to have a masterly touch with the frenzied action sequences. Bit parts are cast beautifully. You can see the attention to detail and craft in this movie.

It can only be assumed that the gay context of this film has cost it it's commercial potential in the eyes of distributors, because everything else about it spells box office success. Apparently, it will finally have a limited release in the US in October this year, with the potential of expansion.

Without spoiling any of the twists of the film's detailed series of events, the film succeeds at beautifully hijacking audience expectation time and again. Just when you think you've got the film pinned for being predictable, suddenly it flips on you with a wry smile as if to say, "I knew what you were thinking".

I'm not sure how close the producers stuck to the facts, but it scarcely matters. If 5% of this narrative is true, it would be amazing in itself. I would be happy if the film was complete fiction.

It's a wonderful, assured comedy and deserves wide commercial exploitation.

The Wedding Party (2010)

One from the heart... with plenty of laughs.

[9/10 · 2 August 2010]

I saw 'The Wedding Party' last Saturday night and wasn't sure what to expect. By the end, I felt I'd finally seen an accomplished and very funny Australian sex comedy with one of the best casts I'd seen in years.

The central wedding plot involving Josh Lawson and Isabel Lucas is fun, but the real meat and potatoes is the fascinating and funny grid of family relationships that develop within the plot. It's here that we get some great performances, some genuine comic moments and some real insight into the 'under the sheets' psyche of middle Australia, who by the way, are going to love this film.

Adam Zwar and Nadine Garner are hilarious as they try to come to terms with her 'vulvadinia' condition (dysfunctional vaginal muscles). Zwar's ruffled, slightly puzzled, slightly petrified everyman is one of the film's gleaming highlights. Nadine too, is funny and complex as she nearly sabotages her own relationship due to her fears of childlessness.

On the other hand, a complex and intriguing plot involves Garner and Lawson's older brother, Colin, played by the wonderful and under-rated Geoff Paine. His story is one of deception and unfulfilled desire, and without giving away too much of a highly unique subplot, he is driven away from his wife (the wonderful Essie Davis) by his peculiar sexual needs and is gradually drawn into Melbourne's salacious subculture. Oddly, this, the most dramatic subplot in the film, also creates two of its biggest laughs.

The film is, in many respects a comedy, but the performances reek of truthfulness in a way that many of these actors are rarely allowed to exhibit - especially in their sanitized turns in Australian TV dramas. In this film, they clearly enjoy the unabashed honesty afforded to them by first time director Amanda Jane.

In the midst of this huge, impressive cast, Josh Lawson and Isabel Lucas are truly charismatic and funny - an oddball combination that works charmingly due to Isabel's turn as a Russian bride, failing to fully understand Josh's Woody Allen-esquire nervous humor. If all that wasn't enough, Steve Bisley as the head of the family steals the show with his hilariously arrogant posturing. Kestie Morassi may have found her perfect role also as Steve's (Lawson's) true love, Jacqui. She builds a very close bond with the audience as we ride her confusion and angst, waiting for the hyperactive Steve to sort out his shambolic life.

It's a unique film. The audience I saw it with, a packed house at Greater Union in Melbourne, were in hysterics one moment, deeply touched the next but it's style is so oddball it takes 10 minutes to orient yourself in the film's universe. Once you are there though, you'll realize you're hearing a terrific new voice in Australian cinema.