April 10, 2026 • 24 mins
In this episode of TV Reload, hosts Benjamin Norris and his guest, Brose Avard, dive into the Australian musical comedy film, The Deb. They share their thoughts on the film's themes, characters, and music. Discussing what works and what doesn't. From the film's M-rated content to its portrayal of country stereotypes, they weigh in on the pros and cons. With a focus on the film's potential, they discuss how it could have been a hit with a PG rating and some tweaks. Join Benjamin and Brose as they dissect this Aussie classic in the making.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's in the news today, but it was actually on
TV Reload the podcast last week. Get Everyone. Welcome back
to TV Reload. My name is Benjamin Norris, and today
we are joined by the divine, ever so singing bruise
of art deb Ready. I am ready.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
You tell me.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
I've got a top hat and tails and that's it.
I'm gonna wear board shorts. It's like cup day meats,
country meets meat, youth muster.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's a youth mustard.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I love that. There was almost like a Looney Tunes
Warner Brothers reference there.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Slipped just wild about Harry and Harry's wild about me.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Have you ever been in a musical?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
I was in Greece in high school, which I've talked
about on Chaffleck's many a time. And I've told this
part of the story which I love telling, where I
was just one of the random tea birds that isn't
isn't really even in the movie. But the guy that
played Danny wasn't quite as strong a singer as I was,
so the director kept giving me the songs Danny was
meant to sing, so you know, it worked out well
in the and I had a minor role and got
(01:01):
most of the song.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
It's been a while since I've seen Greece, so like,
I can't.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
This is the musical two, not the movie.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So and I sang magic those magic changes. I sang
in a little tree and singers and none of which
were Danny, you know all those kinds of songs. It's
a good one.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Is this on video tape?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
It is? Yeah, it is on videotape somewhere.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
We'll see if we can find a copy, and I'll
play or I can just sing it for you now
if you'd like.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well, let's go.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
This is rendition. Now what's that playing non the radio?
Why do I keep swinging too? And bro? Now that
that's magic changes. That was a good song and.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
It was a good rendition of it. Right now and
welcome to the podcasts. Today we are reviewing a very
first musical movie, which is Dead the Dead, which.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I think there's silly, a disappointing film for overall, but
not for the reasons you would think.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
How's that for a tease.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I think it's good teas. I'm going to give you
an even bigger teas. The deb is a bold Australian
musical comedy set in the outback What a great place
to set this.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
By the way, I thought Australian movie set in the
out back.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Wow Australian. I actually thought it was The Dressmaker the
musical But Anyway, where a socially awkward teen is sent
to a debutante ball to fix her reputation. Of all places,
I would have assumed that debutante balls had been taken
out of high schools because of all the drama that
they caused. But no, anyway, As she navigates a small
town expectations, clicks, and family pressure, the experience becomes a chaotic,
(02:21):
glitter filled journey of self discovery, complete with big emotions,
bigger personalities, and a whole lot of song and dance
and an accent that was completely unnecessary. Made me think,
am I watching the wog Boy?
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yes, we're in the wrong film? A couple of things
just quickly. Were you ever in a music or yourself?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Ben? Have you ever? I was?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
But the only musical I was in was The Wizard
of Oz at an Actually fact, I was just in
the company oh yeah, yeah yeah, And so at one
point I did come on stage, though, and my only
job was to tuck my flannel, which very much like
what I'm wearing right now really into my pants, which
I did not do it. And I was the only
one out of thirty people in the company with my
(03:02):
shirt hanging out my knees.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You're individual, You're an individual, that's all right.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I can see you dancing like behind Kylie or Madonna,
or like just in a tuxedo with maybe some kind
of very shiny stairs or something. I can see you
with like ten other guys in tuxedos. That's where I
put you.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
This is the this is these are fantasies inside my
own brain. You're realizing to me. I would have loved
to have been in a musical. The closest I got
was the Rockus Deadvand and I did have a main
part in that. However, in the final part of the performance, sorry,
in the main performance that was shown at the MCG,
I was only in half of what I was supposed
to be in because I miss stepped and leaped off
(03:40):
the front of the stage. Oh was missing for the
second half, and I was a lead in that, so
none of it made sense and we were not asked
to progress in the competition.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
It was the rock Trip and fallst Dedford for you.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
It was a step. You had to jump over these
pirates and then the last pirate put your legs out.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Anyway, that sentence only makes sense when you're talking about
Rockus Dedford.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
But and then we had to jump over pirates. There
was a whole thing. Don't worry.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And the second question is speaking of tuxedos, did you
do your debut?
Speaker 1 (04:11):
All? I did your pardnered I did. I went with
my girlfriend at the time. Big shout out to you, Jody.
The main reason why I wanted to go to my
dead ball was because I wanted to wear the Kumba bunton.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
We'll s. I did the deb as well, and there
were two reasons I wanted to wear the suit.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I wanted to wear the tails.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
And I want to do the dance lessons because I
love dancing, so it was nice to And I did
a lot of slapstick during the dance classes because I
liked falling over.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
To So can you remember any of those dance pieces?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Perfect? No, why would I want to dance like that ever? Again?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
All right, they don't do any dancing in the deb
Maybe we should have listened to a little bit of
a trailer.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
We've got a trailer there.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
We certainly do. Let me fire it up on the
old cranker. It's me, it's your cousin Nive. Sorry what
this the moment was me with your host. Our story
starts in Dunburn, also known as the asshole of Australia.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I'm sorry you're taking away valuable oxygen from my cigarette.
Oh sorry for my mum's punishing me because I staged
a protest.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I think I might be the feminist voice about generation.
Fuck my life. So you have a debut on ball here.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, it's like pretty white dresses coming out to society.
This town is where feminism has come to die.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
The deb is more than just a tradition. It's about
getting to feel special this film. Right away, we need
to just slightly talk about the fact that it did
have a few issues, and I feel as though it
didn't if it hadn't have had those issues.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
And if those issues weren't still hanging over the top
of the production in general.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Still happening, Yeah, still happening. It kind of feels like
they'll they'll kind of like let the movie go and
just let it out and see what happens. Maybe the
magic in the happiness of the movie will take away
from the disaster and unhappiness by in the scenes. However,
we can't go into too much of this information. There
is some legal issues that are going on behind the
scenes for the people who made this film, Rebel Wilson included.
And I actually think hadn't all of that not have unfolded,
(06:16):
this could have been an Aussie classic.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah this, I mean the opening song I think is
a bad choice, and the opening kind of fifteen minutes
I don't think is particularly good and set me off
in a bad mood.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
But what was great about this film?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
And look, I don't think it's a great film or
you know, one of the greatest films ever made, it
managed to win me around, which is I always reward
any film for that. So I was pretty much and
I texted you as we're watching it at our separate
houses because we've got.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
A screen up.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
But yeah, I mean I was not ready to enjoy
the film at all. I thought the opening was a
bit crass and unnecessary, and then it won me round,
which is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
And that's the other thing about this film.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It's m rated and I get it in an artists
don't want to be constrained, etc. But if this was
a PG film again, it would be a much bigger
hit the M rated version. I think a lot of
the language that's used, and I'm not approved by any means,
I think it's unecessary and given the subject matter. If
it was a PG film, this could have been like
this feels like I bring it on. It feels like
other films that are successful in that PG market. For me,
(07:10):
it's a shame that it's in as well. But there
are some good things in this film, so it should
have been a great hit, and I hope despite all
the stuff that's happened off screen, that doesn't affect the
promotion too much and people actually get along.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
And see it.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I'll also say I've said I'm not a huge fan
of Red Wilson's in the past. She has obviously some
of the funniest lines in this film, and I assume
that's why she gets writing credit, is that she's thought
of those jokes reading the script or improvised on set
or whatever. But God does she have some of the
funniest lines. And that's part of the reason I was
one round, was that I'd laugh out loud at her
lines and then you kind of yeah, I kind of
(07:42):
fell in love with the two leads, the two female leads.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Well, I want to unpack that Christmas stocking full of
information that you managed to throw out there just then.
I think that the movie struggled to find its lane.
I think you're on the money there. I think you
could have done better with a PG rating and turning
down some of that. I think the movie wanted to
kick itself off off and attract an American audience, because.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
For sure definitely looking for Rebel's American audience to follow
her into direction and follow into this small film, which
makes sense.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Because it really does take a very positive turn once
we leave the private school girls school in Sydney and
we found ourselves in the quintessential outback landscape. But what
I also thought was really interesting was Rebel Wilson's choice.
Where you don't normally like Rebel Wilson that much, where
I normally do like.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Rebels, Oh, you didn't like her in There's I.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Found that the accent was an oh step.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
No, no, she like this strong Lebanese accent or whatever
that is. That accent was frustrating as hell. I didn't
understand it. It seemed misplaced, like she makes that line
about you know, your mum stole the only worthwhile city
guy that's ever come through.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Here or something.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
It's like, but with that accent, surely you've come from
Preston or something. You're not born and bred here in
the country like everyone else.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
It was very bizarre, but they didn't even explain it, like,
you know, the accent was so bizarre. And it also
was not consistent either, because now.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Look, a lot of those lines that I laughed out
loud at, they weren't necessarily in that accent, I think.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Which helped exactly. I thought that was a real misstep.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
And I also didn't like that ge Rebel Wilson's character
then became essential to the plot as well in the
kind of end of second act or whatever all start
of the third act, because she's a supporting character, you know,
more like more like Amy Pohler and mean girls or something.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
You know she should have.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
You always want more of Amy Polo, and in this
you don't get a chance to want more of Rebel
Wilson because we just get it.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
But also when she first turns up, because you know
she's the director. The first time she turns up, she
sort of just appears in one of the musical numbers
and says a line, Yeah, you were like, that's kind
of cool. I mean a little bit, you know, too
early on the piece to jump in and do that
part rebel. But good on you for job.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
If it had been after the cataloction, it would have
been perfect.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah. But then be right, we all of a sudden,
we just started getting so much of it.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
The other thing, with so much rebel in this, I
feel like she kind of undermined her daughter, Annabelle, who's
one of the Pixie Cups, and she has quite a
big revelation at the end of the film, but I
feel like her story gets cut because there's so much
rebel in there.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
How did you find that kind of story resolution?
Speaker 1 (10:05):
There?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Was that a bit forced? Or was it okay? For you?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
I do agree with you, and I thought that she
reveled that storyline a little bit too much, because what
was actually really surprising about this film was that the
young women in this film were phenomenal, Like they really
were the biggest sell for me when I think about
telling people about seeing this. I thought Natalie Abbott and
Charlotte mckinness were fantastic, But I thought that the three
way triangle of sort of stereotypes of what it's like
(10:30):
to be a young woman in this era. I thought
they kind of made a really modern take on these
young characters and did it really well. In the end,
it's not like there was one good guy or a
bad guy. If those three women all went on a
journey of experimenting with their darker side and finding their
true self.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, I no, I agree with that, and I guess
again not again. I don't want to bag out Rebel
too much in this because I think she did a
pretty good job directing, and I think generally she was
good except the accent was bad. But whether it was her,
the producers or the writers or whatever, having her character
and that that much has undermined not only her daughter,
but those three mean girls in Inverted Commas, and then
it kind of draws away from Taylor and Mov's story
(11:10):
a little bit, or more move story a little bit
as well. So the two women that you just mentioned
that played the two family laides, they were phenomenal. They
were so good in that early song where they're singing
together but in like one on the kind of on
top of a barn and under or whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That was an unusual Yeah, and the location was kind
of weird, but.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Like they were standing on top of each other, so
they would have been able to hear each other singing.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
It wasn't bad direction because at least they were separated
with a line through the middle of the screen. But yes,
it wasn't an artificial line. It was a practical line
on the set.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So don't get with musicals in film though, where it
looks so much like you're watching a stage show. Like
I feel like directors when it comes to taking your
stage show to the cinema, I feel like they need
to They've got a great opportunity to try and reset
these things so that it doesn't look like you're watching
it in a theater, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
No, that's fair enough, that's a fair criticism. I think
the song and their performance got me over that that
it was a kind of flat direction. I think the
performances were enough. Most of the songs are quite good too.
Like I said, the opening song, not really, and I
believe they start by saying suck, but I think it
turns into the F word and I just don't think
it's necessary. And then I also find some of the
behavior at that school unrealistic and a bit bizarre. Whether
(12:15):
that's an extreme fantasy version of the writers, whether that's
an experience they had, I'm not sure, but I found
some of that writing a bit weird. And the obsession
move has with TikTok and being a TikTok star, to
me was a bit bizarre as well. I don't mind
her having that interest, but the fact that she thinks
she's going to live the rest of her life at
the age of sixteen just doing tiktoks is when she
(12:35):
goes to a school like that and from a.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Family ambitious, so ambitious.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Oh yeah, you don't need anything else.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Do imagine like the years later, they'll be taking kids
through courses in private schools on how to become a
TikTok star. I don't know whether that'll ever happen. I
thought this movie reminded me of looking for Oller Brandy
meets Bring It On.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
I definitely bring it On feels during this film, and
I even said that point while watching it.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
So I want to do a.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Quick shout out to Carris Oka, who was one of
the mean girls with Annabelle. She was the lead in
Beetlejuice on Stage here in Australia recently, and she was
fantastic in Beetlejuice, and I was a little bit embarrassed
by what she had to do in this film, but
she was very good, nonetheless playing this type of character,
but so good in Beetlejuice. One of the greatest things
about that musical was her performance so.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Well, everyone looked like they were having a good time.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Shane Jacobson is in here playing Taylor's father. What did
you think of Shane's performance?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I think he was great.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I don't like him all the time either, but in
this he really nailed it. Like he's really solid and strong.
He's got a very strong fatherly in a positive, supportive
kind of way. One of the things I didn't like
too about the writing of this film, and again not
a major thing, it was a bit patronizing to the
country people once we got to the country, Like some
of the stereotypes were a bit too black and white.
But the idea that Shane Jacobson and Taylor's Taylor and
(13:51):
Taylor's dad in their sensetenance played by Shade Jacobson the
fai like they'd only eat instant noodles.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
That was weird.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
They'd be able to cook, surely, Like that seemed a
bit patronizing, in a bit bit of an attack on
country people.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
I think country people are going to really fucking hate this.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
There's elements of it that are not particularly nice to
country people, is what I'm like.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
No, I don't think so, but I don't think that's
who they were going for.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Everything else is great.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
The idea that Shane's also the mayor but he's a farmer,
and the drought and that he's just trying to you know,
survive and trying to.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Help his town.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Like some really beautiful stuff there about country type people
and country problems. That's all fine. It's just that first
act with some of the bigger wild stereotypes that are
like this is kind of offensive.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
It did feel like this film was being made though,
for American audiences, and I feel like the realta release
to get this out at the moment is to get
it out here in Australia so they can take it
everywhere else. It did have a premiere in twenty twenty
four overseas in a film festival, so pier run I
had already seen this movie, and audiences overseas really enjoyed
(14:51):
the Australianism's out, Muriel's Wedding, the Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
There's some absolute tip of the hats to those films.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
One of the biggest ones, by the way, Tara Morris
is in here playing Shell. She's from strictly Borom and
she's great in that and it's great to see her
in a film again as well, and her and Chane
Jacobs was going to have great chemistry and she's really
good in this as well.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Well. I thought that Natalie Abbott and Charlotte mcinness, they
both gave me Rachel Griffiths Tony Khaled vibes with some
of the dynamics between those two, where you know, you
get to see Taylor being bullied by the bullies, and
you know then Meave stands in and sticks up for
a similar way to you know, I'd rather swallow fifty
thousand razor bleds than have a drink with you kind
(15:32):
of moment, you know. So there's some of that going
on in this, which I think is the lane this
movie should have stayed in, some of that sort of
pig repertoire back in exactly, rather than swearing at each
other all the profanity. This movie was smarter than that, so.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I agree, And the character development and some of the
plot elements and the story in this film is smarter
than just being And again, I don't want to sound
like a broken record here, but they just skewed it
to PG. This could have been a huge film in
the way to bring it on was, you know, right
on the edge of the PE rating. But it was
also in some ways the conservativeness of Kirston Dunce that
kept it in that PG spot because she didn't want
(16:08):
it to a topless scene and things like that, and because
of that that kind of helped the film, and this
would have done a lot better with that push.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
How did you feel about the rugby scene.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
It seemed to come out of nowhere.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
They kind of hint very quickly that Taylor's got in
a strength, like physical strength there somewhere, and then all
of a sudden she gets roped into playing on the
boys rugby team.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
But I think that's because the overall theme is that
strength is beauty. Better to be a strong woman than
it is to be a pretty woman. So I think
when you talk about the rugby stuff, I think they
were just trying to and in lots of ways now
we're seeing this more and more, they're trying to bridge
the gap between men and women's stereotypes. So I think
that might have been where they were going with that.
(16:48):
But there are a few too many of those moments
in this film where I feel like it's almost getting
the point right, but it doesn't quite get it right.
And I think if there'd been a test screening for
this film and they had the opportunity of doing some
reshoots film, if it was tightened a little bit, I
think could have been quite amazing.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
That being said, it's a two hour film, so you know,
I'm sure there's some fat in there they could have
cut out and strengthened it.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Did it feel two hours to you? It really didn't
to me.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
It didn't feel two hours to me at all.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
And again I think that's that thing where you know,
the first fifteen to twenty minute I wasn't really on board.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I want to talk about the thing that this movie is,
and that is music. So you've got michaels Yezerski who
has done the score. Amazing the score, because quite.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
A prolific composer too.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
By the way, he's a lot of true crime reality stuff,
but he's done some great fiction and TV film all
kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Really, But then Meg Washington, who I didn't personally know,
you said you'd been listening too for years on Triple
Jay's that right.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah, she's kind of an indie local pop sensation and
she's done ARIA Awards and like TV appearances, but obviously
Triple J a lot, and yeah, her stuffs really good
and she's and she also wrote the story. She co
wrote the story for this for the film, as well
as writing the music. So it was Meg Washington and
Hannah Riley that co wrote the story, and then Hannah
Riley then wrote the screenplay with Rebel Elson adding elements
(18:01):
as well make.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Watching bloom away.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
She's been doing quite a lot of writing, TV writing
and so forth in the last five ten years, off
the back of all of her musical success. But I
love her music because it is this kind of catchy,
poppy kind of feel, but it's got a bit of
an independent edge. And except for the more dancing numbers
in this song, I really loved the music. I mean,
the dancing ones were fine too, but the other stuff
other it was great.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I did think with the music, they took some big
swings with this. These songs did feel quite catchy quite quickly.
The only thing I would say is that there was
a couple of beats in some of these songs that
made me think of like a Bunnings ad or a
a Target ad or you know, like a was it
jet that sung a song for Kmart for like one
hundred years, Like, I don't know. There was some like
(18:42):
a bit jingly is the word I'm looking for?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, yeah, a bit jingly And that's fair enough.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
And I think as long as the jingly song turns
into an actual song as opposed to just a jingle,
then they can kind of get away with it.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
But it is it is a concern. Obviously you don't
want to do too much of that. But it was
still very catchy.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Most of the songs were very catchy, and I enjoyed, Yeah,
ninety percent of the songs in this. There was a
ten to fifty minute period in the third act where
there's just no songs and it's kind of weird that
you kind of miss it all of a sudden, and
then they do the big finale and I was steering
up during the finale when the whole town is singing
the pretty strong song at the end.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
There.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I got on board with that, and you know, big
groups of people singing together on screen always gets me
a bit emotional, bit excited.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And if you do it like this movie, do what
a lot of people have been doing is just log
onto their phones and read the production drama that's going
on behind the scene, because there's something in this stuff.
You know, there's something in there for everyone. If you're
not into a M rated PG music hall, which is
basically how I refer to, is maybe you'll like some
of the whoha that's going on behind the scenes with
(19:42):
Rebeb Wolfson versus the entire production.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Well, yeah, exactly. You know, just just move past it.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
And that is the shame.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
I mean, yeah, I mean, a broader film is going
to attract more people, and it's going to have a
better chance of success. And this isn't a particularly adult film,
so it's in trouble. One of the things I did
say to you over a messenger when we were watching
it was who.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Is the audience for this? Don't know?
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Because if it's all relying on sixteen plus eighteen plus,
then they're going to run out of audience too quickly.
But again I'm no conservative either, but it just just
is a shame because they put so much work into it,
so much work into the writing, writing the lyrics, getting
the story to work. Ross Emery was the dop The
film looks fantastic. I wish he'd shot Scream seven because
(20:23):
he would have done a better job, Like with a
limited location with a country town with one street that
he just made it look fantastic.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Look, I'm going to just say this right now, but
it comes to my review. I am giving this movie
two and a half stars.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
That's interesting, isn't it, Because everything that I've said about
it so far positively it is a two and a
half star film for me, possibly a three star film.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Possibly a three star. Maybe I'm going to go three stars,
but I just do you know what, this movie is
a much better film if it just had a few
things fixed with it. If you tightened a few screws
on this film, it is definitely a solid three and
a half Australian film.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Yeah easily, Yeah, three three and a half star film
if it was just a couple of those issues are
tightened and removed.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
And what I said at the start. It's disappointing.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
The reason this film is disappointing is because of those
off camera issues. It may not get the publicity it deserves.
It may not get the promotion that it needs because
of the issues back in twenty twenty four and the
fact that it's been held over and then released now.
I hope they spend some money promoting it. There's enough
people attached to it they can talk to without talking
to any of the problematics. You know, the two main stars.
Meg Washington's in there as well. Hannah Riley is a
(21:29):
good one. Get out on, get them out on press.
People should see this film. It's not one of those
Australian films you watch and you're embarrassed by. It's one
of those Australian films that wins you over and you
end up, you know, really loving the characters. So disappointing
in so much as it may not get the audience
that deserves, and it deserves an audience. So maybe I'll
be with you. I was going to say two and
a half, but maybe three stars is good.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
I'm going to go with you. We're going to go
three stars.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
For three stars and for all those reasons.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
You know this. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
It's hard because if you've got kids in high school,
you want to take them to this film. But that's
who it's for. Anyone aged thirteen to twenty is going
to love this film. It's great fun.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
As long as they don't come home and tell you
to go fuck yourself because that was in the movie.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
That was in the movie.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, and I was like, Okay, maybe I shouldn't take
my kids to see that. Look, I would tell people
to definitely go out and see this film, go and
enjoy it for what it is, don't expect too much,
but have a good time. Support Australian cinema is where
I was trying to go with my point. Yeah, definitely,
my favorite thing is going along and seeing ourselves on screen,
seeing our voices on screen, and also supporting people and
(22:27):
their jobs in our country. So that is also something
that we need to champion.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Yeah, and we're also not saying see this film for
those reasons. We're saying it's a good film worth seeing. Plus,
there are those reasons as opposed to Australian films in
the past that you may only have seen for those reasons.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
I often go along and see Australian films because they're
Australian and enjoy them because they're Australian. And I will
go with friends who will go Ben, that was horse shit,
and I'll be like what, I loved it usually because
I like That's how much I like seeing Australian people.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
And there's been a dearth of quality Australian film like this.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
This is quality. It's of a good quality.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Well, coming up next week, we are going to go
and visit the Mummy. Not your Mummy, not my Mummy,
but Lee Cronan's Mummy.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
That'll be interesting.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
We did Frankenstein's Bride in the Bride and now we're
doing Lee Cronin's take on the Mummy. It's all getting
very universal monsters in the cinema. At the moment when
The Mummy with Tom Cruise did very badly, I didn't
finish that film. Did you ever finish that film? I
couldn't finish and I wanted to rename it Mummy impossible,
Mummy impossible.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
I don't know why I find that's so funny.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Don't don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't broom Well.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
This week next week's movie distributed by Water Brothers, and
there's a Blomhouse film is ah A by the producers
who made Weapons which was.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Is that a Blomhouse film as well? Is that all
they mean?
Speaker 1 (23:45):
That's whenever you see the Blomhouse comes up, you know
that you're about to watch something creepy, you know, and.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
It's going to be good and if not good, it's
going to be short.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Exactly, Get in, get out, And that is that is
what they do. Next week we'll be checking out Lee
Cronan's The Mummy. But if you're looking for some family
fun with some light square words, then this movie, the
deb could be for you. Rebel Wilson will appreciate you
throwing in some coin as well. The people of the
Australian Film Industry TA
It's in the news today, but it was actually on
TV Reload the podcast last week. Get Everyone. Welcome back
to TV Reload. My name is Benjamin Norris, and today
we are joined by the divine, ever so singing bruise
of art deb Ready. I am ready.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
You tell me.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
I've got a top hat and tails and that's it.
I'm gonna wear board shorts. It's like cup day meats,
country meets meat, youth muster.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
It's a youth mustard.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I love that. There was almost like a Looney Tunes
Warner Brothers reference there.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Slipped just wild about Harry and Harry's wild about me.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Have you ever been in a musical?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
I was in Greece in high school, which I've talked
about on Chaffleck's many a time. And I've told this
part of the story which I love telling, where I
was just one of the random tea birds that isn't
isn't really even in the movie. But the guy that
played Danny wasn't quite as strong a singer as I was,
so the director kept giving me the songs Danny was
meant to sing, so you know, it worked out well
in the and I had a minor role and got
(01:01):
most of the song.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
It's been a while since I've seen Greece, so like,
I can't.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
This is the musical two, not the movie.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So and I sang magic those magic changes. I sang
in a little tree and singers and none of which
were Danny, you know all those kinds of songs. It's
a good one.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Is this on video tape?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
It is? Yeah, it is on videotape somewhere.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
We'll see if we can find a copy, and I'll
play or I can just sing it for you now
if you'd like.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well, let's go.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
This is rendition. Now what's that playing non the radio?
Why do I keep swinging too? And bro? Now that
that's magic changes. That was a good song and.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
It was a good rendition of it. Right now and
welcome to the podcasts. Today we are reviewing a very
first musical movie, which is Dead the Dead, which.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
I think there's silly, a disappointing film for overall, but
not for the reasons you would think.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
How's that for a tease.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
I think it's good teas. I'm going to give you
an even bigger teas. The deb is a bold Australian
musical comedy set in the outback What a great place
to set this.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
By the way, I thought Australian movie set in the
out back.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Wow Australian. I actually thought it was The Dressmaker the
musical But Anyway, where a socially awkward teen is sent
to a debutante ball to fix her reputation. Of all places,
I would have assumed that debutante balls had been taken
out of high schools because of all the drama that
they caused. But no, anyway, As she navigates a small
town expectations, clicks, and family pressure, the experience becomes a chaotic,
(02:21):
glitter filled journey of self discovery, complete with big emotions,
bigger personalities, and a whole lot of song and dance
and an accent that was completely unnecessary. Made me think,
am I watching the wog Boy?
Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yes, we're in the wrong film? A couple of things
just quickly. Were you ever in a music or yourself?
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Ben? Have you ever? I was?
Speaker 1 (02:41):
But the only musical I was in was The Wizard
of Oz at an Actually fact, I was just in
the company oh yeah, yeah yeah, And so at one
point I did come on stage, though, and my only
job was to tuck my flannel, which very much like
what I'm wearing right now really into my pants, which
I did not do it. And I was the only
one out of thirty people in the company with my
(03:02):
shirt hanging out my knees.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
You're individual, You're an individual, that's all right.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I can see you dancing like behind Kylie or Madonna,
or like just in a tuxedo with maybe some kind
of very shiny stairs or something. I can see you
with like ten other guys in tuxedos. That's where I
put you.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
This is the this is these are fantasies inside my
own brain. You're realizing to me. I would have loved
to have been in a musical. The closest I got
was the Rockus Deadvand and I did have a main
part in that. However, in the final part of the performance, sorry,
in the main performance that was shown at the MCG,
I was only in half of what I was supposed
to be in because I miss stepped and leaped off
(03:40):
the front of the stage. Oh was missing for the
second half, and I was a lead in that, so
none of it made sense and we were not asked
to progress in the competition.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
It was the rock Trip and fallst Dedford for you.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
It was a step. You had to jump over these
pirates and then the last pirate put your legs out.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Anyway, that sentence only makes sense when you're talking about
Rockus Dedford.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
But and then we had to jump over pirates. There
was a whole thing. Don't worry.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
And the second question is speaking of tuxedos, did you
do your debut?
Speaker 1 (04:11):
All? I did your pardnered I did. I went with
my girlfriend at the time. Big shout out to you, Jody.
The main reason why I wanted to go to my
dead ball was because I wanted to wear the Kumba bunton.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
We'll s. I did the deb as well, and there
were two reasons I wanted to wear the suit.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
I wanted to wear the tails.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
And I want to do the dance lessons because I
love dancing, so it was nice to And I did
a lot of slapstick during the dance classes because I
liked falling over.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
To So can you remember any of those dance pieces?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Perfect? No, why would I want to dance like that ever? Again?
Speaker 3 (04:43):
All right, they don't do any dancing in the deb
Maybe we should have listened to a little bit of
a trailer.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
We've got a trailer there.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
We certainly do. Let me fire it up on the
old cranker. It's me, it's your cousin Nive. Sorry what
this the moment was me with your host. Our story
starts in Dunburn, also known as the asshole of Australia.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
I'm sorry you're taking away valuable oxygen from my cigarette.
Oh sorry for my mum's punishing me because I staged
a protest.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I think I might be the feminist voice about generation.
Fuck my life. So you have a debut on ball here.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Yeah, it's like pretty white dresses coming out to society.
This town is where feminism has come to die.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
The deb is more than just a tradition. It's about
getting to feel special this film. Right away, we need
to just slightly talk about the fact that it did
have a few issues, and I feel as though it
didn't if it hadn't have had those issues.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
And if those issues weren't still hanging over the top
of the production in general.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
Still happening, Yeah, still happening. It kind of feels like
they'll they'll kind of like let the movie go and
just let it out and see what happens. Maybe the
magic in the happiness of the movie will take away
from the disaster and unhappiness by in the scenes. However,
we can't go into too much of this information. There
is some legal issues that are going on behind the
scenes for the people who made this film, Rebel Wilson included.
And I actually think hadn't all of that not have unfolded,
(06:16):
this could have been an Aussie classic.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
Yeah this, I mean the opening song I think is
a bad choice, and the opening kind of fifteen minutes
I don't think is particularly good and set me off
in a bad mood.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
But what was great about this film?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
And look, I don't think it's a great film or
you know, one of the greatest films ever made, it
managed to win me around, which is I always reward
any film for that. So I was pretty much and
I texted you as we're watching it at our separate
houses because we've got.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
A screen up.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
But yeah, I mean I was not ready to enjoy
the film at all. I thought the opening was a
bit crass and unnecessary, and then it won me round,
which is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
And that's the other thing about this film.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
It's m rated and I get it in an artists
don't want to be constrained, etc. But if this was
a PG film again, it would be a much bigger
hit the M rated version. I think a lot of
the language that's used, and I'm not approved by any means,
I think it's unecessary and given the subject matter. If
it was a PG film, this could have been like
this feels like I bring it on. It feels like
other films that are successful in that PG market. For me,
(07:10):
it's a shame that it's in as well. But there
are some good things in this film, so it should
have been a great hit, and I hope despite all
the stuff that's happened off screen, that doesn't affect the
promotion too much and people actually get along.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
And see it.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I'll also say I've said I'm not a huge fan
of Red Wilson's in the past. She has obviously some
of the funniest lines in this film, and I assume
that's why she gets writing credit, is that she's thought
of those jokes reading the script or improvised on set
or whatever. But God does she have some of the
funniest lines. And that's part of the reason I was
one round, was that I'd laugh out loud at her
lines and then you kind of yeah, I kind of
(07:42):
fell in love with the two leads, the two female leads.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Well, I want to unpack that Christmas stocking full of
information that you managed to throw out there just then.
I think that the movie struggled to find its lane.
I think you're on the money there. I think you
could have done better with a PG rating and turning
down some of that. I think the movie wanted to
kick itself off off and attract an American audience, because.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
For sure definitely looking for Rebel's American audience to follow
her into direction and follow into this small film, which
makes sense.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Because it really does take a very positive turn once
we leave the private school girls school in Sydney and
we found ourselves in the quintessential outback landscape. But what
I also thought was really interesting was Rebel Wilson's choice.
Where you don't normally like Rebel Wilson that much, where
I normally do like.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Rebels, Oh, you didn't like her in There's I.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Found that the accent was an oh step.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
No, no, she like this strong Lebanese accent or whatever
that is. That accent was frustrating as hell. I didn't
understand it. It seemed misplaced, like she makes that line
about you know, your mum stole the only worthwhile city
guy that's ever come through.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Here or something.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
It's like, but with that accent, surely you've come from
Preston or something. You're not born and bred here in
the country like everyone else.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
It was very bizarre, but they didn't even explain it, like,
you know, the accent was so bizarre. And it also
was not consistent either, because now.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Look, a lot of those lines that I laughed out
loud at, they weren't necessarily in that accent, I think.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Which helped exactly. I thought that was a real misstep.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
And I also didn't like that ge Rebel Wilson's character
then became essential to the plot as well in the
kind of end of second act or whatever all start
of the third act, because she's a supporting character, you know,
more like more like Amy Pohler and mean girls or something.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
You know she should have.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
You always want more of Amy Polo, and in this
you don't get a chance to want more of Rebel
Wilson because we just get it.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
But also when she first turns up, because you know
she's the director. The first time she turns up, she
sort of just appears in one of the musical numbers
and says a line, Yeah, you were like, that's kind
of cool. I mean a little bit, you know, too
early on the piece to jump in and do that
part rebel. But good on you for job.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
If it had been after the cataloction, it would have
been perfect.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah. But then be right, we all of a sudden,
we just started getting so much of it.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
The other thing, with so much rebel in this, I
feel like she kind of undermined her daughter, Annabelle, who's
one of the Pixie Cups, and she has quite a
big revelation at the end of the film, but I
feel like her story gets cut because there's so much
rebel in there.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
How did you find that kind of story resolution?
Speaker 1 (10:05):
There?
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Was that a bit forced? Or was it okay? For you?
Speaker 1 (10:07):
I do agree with you, and I thought that she
reveled that storyline a little bit too much, because what
was actually really surprising about this film was that the
young women in this film were phenomenal, Like they really
were the biggest sell for me when I think about
telling people about seeing this. I thought Natalie Abbott and
Charlotte mckinness were fantastic, But I thought that the three
way triangle of sort of stereotypes of what it's like
(10:30):
to be a young woman in this era. I thought
they kind of made a really modern take on these
young characters and did it really well. In the end,
it's not like there was one good guy or a
bad guy. If those three women all went on a
journey of experimenting with their darker side and finding their
true self.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, I no, I agree with that, and I guess
again not again. I don't want to bag out Rebel
too much in this because I think she did a
pretty good job directing, and I think generally she was
good except the accent was bad. But whether it was her,
the producers or the writers or whatever, having her character
and that that much has undermined not only her daughter,
but those three mean girls in Inverted Commas, and then
it kind of draws away from Taylor and Mov's story
(11:10):
a little bit, or more move story a little bit
as well. So the two women that you just mentioned
that played the two family laides, they were phenomenal. They
were so good in that early song where they're singing
together but in like one on the kind of on
top of a barn and under or whatever.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
That was an unusual Yeah, and the location was kind
of weird, but.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Like they were standing on top of each other, so
they would have been able to hear each other singing.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
It wasn't bad direction because at least they were separated
with a line through the middle of the screen. But yes,
it wasn't an artificial line. It was a practical line
on the set.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
So don't get with musicals in film though, where it
looks so much like you're watching a stage show. Like
I feel like directors when it comes to taking your
stage show to the cinema, I feel like they need
to They've got a great opportunity to try and reset
these things so that it doesn't look like you're watching
it in a theater, if that makes sense.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
No, that's fair enough, that's a fair criticism. I think
the song and their performance got me over that that
it was a kind of flat direction. I think the
performances were enough. Most of the songs are quite good too.
Like I said, the opening song, not really, and I
believe they start by saying suck, but I think it
turns into the F word and I just don't think
it's necessary. And then I also find some of the
behavior at that school unrealistic and a bit bizarre. Whether
(12:15):
that's an extreme fantasy version of the writers, whether that's
an experience they had, I'm not sure, but I found
some of that writing a bit weird. And the obsession
move has with TikTok and being a TikTok star, to
me was a bit bizarre as well. I don't mind
her having that interest, but the fact that she thinks
she's going to live the rest of her life at
the age of sixteen just doing tiktoks is when she
(12:35):
goes to a school like that and from a.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Family ambitious, so ambitious.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Oh yeah, you don't need anything else.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Do imagine like the years later, they'll be taking kids
through courses in private schools on how to become a
TikTok star. I don't know whether that'll ever happen. I
thought this movie reminded me of looking for Oller Brandy
meets Bring It On.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
I definitely bring it On feels during this film, and
I even said that point while watching it.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
So I want to do a.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
Quick shout out to Carris Oka, who was one of
the mean girls with Annabelle. She was the lead in
Beetlejuice on Stage here in Australia recently, and she was
fantastic in Beetlejuice, and I was a little bit embarrassed
by what she had to do in this film, but
she was very good, nonetheless playing this type of character,
but so good in Beetlejuice. One of the greatest things
about that musical was her performance so.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Well, everyone looked like they were having a good time.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Shane Jacobson is in here playing Taylor's father. What did
you think of Shane's performance?
Speaker 1 (13:29):
I think he was great.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
I don't like him all the time either, but in
this he really nailed it. Like he's really solid and strong.
He's got a very strong fatherly in a positive, supportive
kind of way. One of the things I didn't like
too about the writing of this film, and again not
a major thing, it was a bit patronizing to the
country people once we got to the country, Like some
of the stereotypes were a bit too black and white.
But the idea that Shane Jacobson and Taylor's Taylor and
(13:51):
Taylor's dad in their sensetenance played by Shade Jacobson the
fai like they'd only eat instant noodles.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
That was weird.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
They'd be able to cook, surely, Like that seemed a
bit patronizing, in a bit bit of an attack on
country people.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
I think country people are going to really fucking hate this.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
There's elements of it that are not particularly nice to
country people, is what I'm like.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
No, I don't think so, but I don't think that's
who they were going for.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Everything else is great.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
The idea that Shane's also the mayor but he's a farmer,
and the drought and that he's just trying to you know,
survive and trying to.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Help his town.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
Like some really beautiful stuff there about country type people
and country problems. That's all fine. It's just that first
act with some of the bigger wild stereotypes that are
like this is kind of offensive.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
It did feel like this film was being made though,
for American audiences, and I feel like the realta release
to get this out at the moment is to get
it out here in Australia so they can take it
everywhere else. It did have a premiere in twenty twenty
four overseas in a film festival, so pier run I
had already seen this movie, and audiences overseas really enjoyed
(14:51):
the Australianism's out, Muriel's Wedding, the Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
There's some absolute tip of the hats to those films.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
One of the biggest ones, by the way, Tara Morris
is in here playing Shell. She's from strictly Borom and
she's great in that and it's great to see her
in a film again as well, and her and Chane
Jacobs was going to have great chemistry and she's really
good in this as well.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
Well. I thought that Natalie Abbott and Charlotte mcinness, they
both gave me Rachel Griffiths Tony Khaled vibes with some
of the dynamics between those two, where you know, you
get to see Taylor being bullied by the bullies, and
you know then Meave stands in and sticks up for
a similar way to you know, I'd rather swallow fifty
thousand razor bleds than have a drink with you kind
(15:32):
of moment, you know. So there's some of that going
on in this, which I think is the lane this
movie should have stayed in, some of that sort of
pig repertoire back in exactly, rather than swearing at each
other all the profanity. This movie was smarter than that, so.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I agree, And the character development and some of the
plot elements and the story in this film is smarter
than just being And again, I don't want to sound
like a broken record here, but they just skewed it
to PG. This could have been a huge film in
the way to bring it on was, you know, right
on the edge of the PE rating. But it was
also in some ways the conservativeness of Kirston Dunce that
kept it in that PG spot because she didn't want
(16:08):
it to a topless scene and things like that, and because
of that that kind of helped the film, and this
would have done a lot better with that push.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
How did you feel about the rugby scene.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
It seemed to come out of nowhere.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
They kind of hint very quickly that Taylor's got in
a strength, like physical strength there somewhere, and then all
of a sudden she gets roped into playing on the
boys rugby team.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
But I think that's because the overall theme is that
strength is beauty. Better to be a strong woman than
it is to be a pretty woman. So I think
when you talk about the rugby stuff, I think they
were just trying to and in lots of ways now
we're seeing this more and more, they're trying to bridge
the gap between men and women's stereotypes. So I think
that might have been where they were going with that.
(16:48):
But there are a few too many of those moments
in this film where I feel like it's almost getting
the point right, but it doesn't quite get it right.
And I think if there'd been a test screening for
this film and they had the opportunity of doing some
reshoots film, if it was tightened a little bit, I
think could have been quite amazing.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
That being said, it's a two hour film, so you know,
I'm sure there's some fat in there they could have
cut out and strengthened it.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Did it feel two hours to you? It really didn't
to me.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
It didn't feel two hours to me at all.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
And again I think that's that thing where you know,
the first fifteen to twenty minute I wasn't really on board.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I want to talk about the thing that this movie is,
and that is music. So you've got michaels Yezerski who
has done the score. Amazing the score, because quite.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
A prolific composer too.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
By the way, he's a lot of true crime reality stuff,
but he's done some great fiction and TV film all
kinds of things.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Really, But then Meg Washington, who I didn't personally know,
you said you'd been listening too for years on Triple
Jay's that right.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Yeah, she's kind of an indie local pop sensation and
she's done ARIA Awards and like TV appearances, but obviously
Triple J a lot, and yeah, her stuffs really good
and she's and she also wrote the story. She co
wrote the story for this for the film, as well
as writing the music. So it was Meg Washington and
Hannah Riley that co wrote the story, and then Hannah
Riley then wrote the screenplay with Rebel Elson adding elements
(18:01):
as well make.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Watching bloom away.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
She's been doing quite a lot of writing, TV writing
and so forth in the last five ten years, off
the back of all of her musical success. But I
love her music because it is this kind of catchy,
poppy kind of feel, but it's got a bit of
an independent edge. And except for the more dancing numbers
in this song, I really loved the music. I mean,
the dancing ones were fine too, but the other stuff
other it was great.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I did think with the music, they took some big
swings with this. These songs did feel quite catchy quite quickly.
The only thing I would say is that there was
a couple of beats in some of these songs that
made me think of like a Bunnings ad or a
a Target ad or you know, like a was it
jet that sung a song for Kmart for like one
hundred years, Like, I don't know. There was some like
(18:42):
a bit jingly is the word I'm looking for?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, yeah, a bit jingly And that's fair enough.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
And I think as long as the jingly song turns
into an actual song as opposed to just a jingle,
then they can kind of get away with it.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
But it is it is a concern. Obviously you don't
want to do too much of that. But it was
still very catchy.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Most of the songs were very catchy, and I enjoyed, Yeah,
ninety percent of the songs in this. There was a
ten to fifty minute period in the third act where
there's just no songs and it's kind of weird that
you kind of miss it all of a sudden, and
then they do the big finale and I was steering
up during the finale when the whole town is singing
the pretty strong song at the end.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
There.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I got on board with that, and you know, big
groups of people singing together on screen always gets me
a bit emotional, bit excited.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
And if you do it like this movie, do what
a lot of people have been doing is just log
onto their phones and read the production drama that's going
on behind the scene, because there's something in this stuff.
You know, there's something in there for everyone. If you're
not into a M rated PG music hall, which is
basically how I refer to, is maybe you'll like some
of the whoha that's going on behind the scenes with
(19:42):
Rebeb Wolfson versus the entire production.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
Well, yeah, exactly. You know, just just move past it.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
And that is the shame.
Speaker 3 (19:50):
I mean, yeah, I mean, a broader film is going
to attract more people, and it's going to have a
better chance of success. And this isn't a particularly adult film,
so it's in trouble. One of the things I did
say to you over a messenger when we were watching
it was who.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Is the audience for this? Don't know?
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Because if it's all relying on sixteen plus eighteen plus,
then they're going to run out of audience too quickly.
But again I'm no conservative either, but it just just
is a shame because they put so much work into it,
so much work into the writing, writing the lyrics, getting
the story to work. Ross Emery was the dop The
film looks fantastic. I wish he'd shot Scream seven because
(20:23):
he would have done a better job, Like with a
limited location with a country town with one street that
he just made it look fantastic.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Look, I'm going to just say this right now, but
it comes to my review. I am giving this movie
two and a half stars.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
That's interesting, isn't it, Because everything that I've said about
it so far positively it is a two and a
half star film for me, possibly a three star film.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Possibly a three star. Maybe I'm going to go three stars,
but I just do you know what, this movie is
a much better film if it just had a few
things fixed with it. If you tightened a few screws
on this film, it is definitely a solid three and
a half Australian film.
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Yeah easily, Yeah, three three and a half star film
if it was just a couple of those issues are
tightened and removed.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
And what I said at the start. It's disappointing.
Speaker 3 (21:07):
The reason this film is disappointing is because of those
off camera issues. It may not get the publicity it deserves.
It may not get the promotion that it needs because
of the issues back in twenty twenty four and the
fact that it's been held over and then released now.
I hope they spend some money promoting it. There's enough
people attached to it they can talk to without talking
to any of the problematics. You know, the two main stars.
Meg Washington's in there as well. Hannah Riley is a
(21:29):
good one. Get out on, get them out on press.
People should see this film. It's not one of those
Australian films you watch and you're embarrassed by. It's one
of those Australian films that wins you over and you
end up, you know, really loving the characters. So disappointing
in so much as it may not get the audience
that deserves, and it deserves an audience. So maybe I'll
be with you. I was going to say two and
a half, but maybe three stars is good.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
I'm going to go with you. We're going to go
three stars.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
For three stars and for all those reasons.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
You know this. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
It's hard because if you've got kids in high school,
you want to take them to this film. But that's
who it's for. Anyone aged thirteen to twenty is going
to love this film. It's great fun.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
As long as they don't come home and tell you
to go fuck yourself because that was in the movie.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
That was in the movie.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, and I was like, Okay, maybe I shouldn't take
my kids to see that. Look, I would tell people
to definitely go out and see this film, go and
enjoy it for what it is, don't expect too much,
but have a good time. Support Australian cinema is where
I was trying to go with my point. Yeah, definitely,
my favorite thing is going along and seeing ourselves on screen,
seeing our voices on screen, and also supporting people and
(22:27):
their jobs in our country. So that is also something
that we need to champion.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Yeah, and we're also not saying see this film for
those reasons. We're saying it's a good film worth seeing. Plus,
there are those reasons as opposed to Australian films in
the past that you may only have seen for those reasons.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
I often go along and see Australian films because they're
Australian and enjoy them because they're Australian. And I will
go with friends who will go Ben, that was horse shit,
and I'll be like what, I loved it usually because
I like That's how much I like seeing Australian people.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
And there's been a dearth of quality Australian film like this.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
This is quality. It's of a good quality.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Well, coming up next week, we are going to go
and visit the Mummy. Not your Mummy, not my Mummy,
but Lee Cronan's Mummy.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
That'll be interesting.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
We did Frankenstein's Bride in the Bride and now we're
doing Lee Cronin's take on the Mummy. It's all getting
very universal monsters in the cinema. At the moment when
The Mummy with Tom Cruise did very badly, I didn't
finish that film. Did you ever finish that film? I
couldn't finish and I wanted to rename it Mummy impossible,
Mummy impossible.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
I don't know why I find that's so funny.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Don't don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't broom Well.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
This week next week's movie distributed by Water Brothers, and
there's a Blomhouse film is ah A by the producers
who made Weapons which was.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Is that a Blomhouse film as well? Is that all
they mean?
Speaker 1 (23:45):
That's whenever you see the Blomhouse comes up, you know
that you're about to watch something creepy, you know, and.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
It's going to be good and if not good, it's
going to be short.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Exactly, Get in, get out, And that is that is
what they do. Next week we'll be checking out Lee
Cronan's The Mummy. But if you're looking for some family
fun with some light square words, then this movie, the
deb could be for you. Rebel Wilson will appreciate you
throwing in some coin as well. The people of the
Australian Film Industry TA
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