This is a quietly effective, warm comedy about an eccentric family in Melbourne who fight a conglomerate wanting to claim their house and land in order to expand the airport next door.
The story reminds me a little of the nostalgic mid-Western American stories written by people like Ray Bradbury. Or, let me put it this way, if you've seen and enjoyed Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" you'll enjoy this.
It's funny. No question about it. But the Kerrigan family becomes real enough to us that we want them to win their case against the Brobdignagian Corporation just so that they can wind up "pleased as punch." (They do, in a fairy-tale ending.) It's about as unpretentious as you can get. Everyone is quirky, blind to the faults of themselves and their friends, and socially artless. The Kerrigan's dim bulb of a lawyer is told by the judge that he has a weak case. He shambles up to the bench and asks in a hushed conspiratorial voice, "Can you give me an angle?" He's doing his best. He's even learned to read Roman numerals for the trial.
There's probably not much point in going on with this. It's a slight enough movie, and describing it in much more detail would spoil some of the more amusing moments. It may take a few moments to get into it, but it's worth the little effort involved. Nice job.
The story reminds me a little of the nostalgic mid-Western American stories written by people like Ray Bradbury. Or, let me put it this way, if you've seen and enjoyed Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" you'll enjoy this.
It's funny. No question about it. But the Kerrigan family becomes real enough to us that we want them to win their case against the Brobdignagian Corporation just so that they can wind up "pleased as punch." (They do, in a fairy-tale ending.) It's about as unpretentious as you can get. Everyone is quirky, blind to the faults of themselves and their friends, and socially artless. The Kerrigan's dim bulb of a lawyer is told by the judge that he has a weak case. He shambles up to the bench and asks in a hushed conspiratorial voice, "Can you give me an angle?" He's doing his best. He's even learned to read Roman numerals for the trial.
There's probably not much point in going on with this. It's a slight enough movie, and describing it in much more detail would spoil some of the more amusing moments. It may take a few moments to get into it, but it's worth the little effort involved. Nice job.