A Disappointing Continuation

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

So polarising yet surprisingly so accurate.Being a teenager in the 1970s it brought back so many memories. What you think such things portrayed in the movie cold not possibly happen? Just to mention a few: Cracker fights...yep Riding in the back of the station wagon...yep Pissed on when stung by a bluebottle....yep Saw beached whales blown up as they were too big to be moved...yep (Toogoom Beach QLD 1968) "Enthusiastic" young ladies....yep Stupid dangerous stunts involving fire and bikes/cars....yep Being stuck in the rumpus room while the adults misbehaved...yep Made to wear really stupid clothes....yep High shoes for men...yep (and I am 6'2") Everyone smoking everywhere....yep Police drinking beer on the job....yep Getting hurt and having adults just tell us to toughen up...yep Drink driving everywhere all the time.....yepAll of those things I witnessed or was involved in personally.This is a brilliant film and every time I watch it I see something new.As I stated in the headline; if you were there it is very, very funny, if not then you will most likely think it is some sort of racist homophobic sexist slapstick debacle as it has no social justice warriors, helicopter parents, safe spaces or diversity so it could not possibly be real......but it was :)

As much as this movie looked like a solid offering filled with laughs and an all star cast it ultimately ends up a complete mess of story lines and underdeveloped characters. It's filled with needless cutbacks that deliver nothing and scenes that should have been left on the cutting room floor. A lot of scenes I just wondered whether the director was doing favours for mates who wanted a small speaking role to camera. While non linear story arcs are fantastic this one wasn't executed well and cut back and forth so many times whatever the story line is meant to be is not evident. What was the main plot line? Was it the whale, the swinging session, the young girl who would seem to be the focus of much of the movie but of whom we learn almost nothing, or the childhood movie that is apparently being made throughout the film? None of these otherwise acceptable plot lines went anywhere. The parents are all hideous people except maybe Jeremy Sims' character but again there's no real purpose or explanation to any of their motivations. Kylie is wasted in her role of a blubbering mess that completely unexplored. The teenage girl is written off as he street 'bike' and the other children engage in bratty behaviour with a side of animal cruelty. I was genuinely excited to see Julian McMahon in an Australian movie and really thought this would be an absolute treat but it just failed miserably. I gave it 4 stars but even that's probably too generous.

Energy abounds in this Aussie flick with lots of great set design and costumes to match and that's as far as it got for me. The rest was a bit of a dissapointment.Yes, I did expect a certain vulgarity to be present but some aspects of the narrative I just found just silly and at times plain stupid. Several minutes of voice over and fast cutting I found overwhelming at the start. There were some set pieces I found funny and was laughing along with the rest of the audience who were at times laughing more than I did, however it was these ridiculous parts of storyline that killed it for me. They kinda were absurd but the execution was where the word silly and stupid came in. Guy Pearce is always great but overall the cast's characters were not developed enough. Kylie Minogue and Jack Thompson's characters in particular were strangulated by the lack of thought given to them in the script. Mr Thompson's character just didn't go anywhere or vary. Not to blame him at all.....there was little heart in the characters overall. The sound mix however was well executed.

Firstly the positives - it looks great and the cast is fun. Set in an idyllic beach suburb street, with colourful 70's designs, and a big cast (everyone's good in this, both parents and kids), most Australians of a certain age will find something to like about this. But it's humorous without being hilarious or much of a good time. The script and editing have made it a bit of a muddle. The two main kids are very sweet, but their storyline has no climax - do they actually go to Melbourne? The behaviour of he parents is a mystery - for a while they're all friends and up for kinky fun, then after a key party they're all enemies for no apparent reason. The gross humour of the final whale scene is a spectacular but emotionally empty note to end on. And one 70's aspect that is completely wrong is the language - it's crude and un-PC (which is accurate for 70's Australia but gets annoying after a while), but leaves out the brilliant Aussie slang of the time. See Puberty Blues for an example of it done right. That language is truly funny and endearing and would have lightened the film.