No, this is not a proclamation of my undying love towards my blog. I think the feeling is still mutually disinterested. But rather, this post is a quick review of Peter Hellier's I Love You Too which I was fortunate enough to attend a preview screening of this Wednesday.
I will admit that I did go into the film with a lot of prejudice already against. First of all, it was an Australian comedy, the type of Australian film which normally resorts to crass remarks and flatulating behinds to get a cheap laugh. The second was the fact the film was written by Peter Hellier who I'm sorry, was absolutely terrible on The Bounce and I only watched one episode! (to prove a point, it was bumped back from 7pm Thursday to 10:30pm on a Wednesday so I think the network agreed it was crap). Finally, like any good film student, I had my apprehensions about the films storyline - Jim is an early 30s typical Aussie bloke into footy, beer, pornos and apparently his girlfriend of 3 and a half years, Alice. Alice was on holiday in Australia before meeting Jim but decided to remain indefinitely because of the bond they shared. Over the years however, Jim's reluctance to express his "love" for Alice has led her to the ulitmatum: say I love you or say goodbye. Unfortunately for Jim, the latter occurs and what happens next was the most unexpected series of events I could have ever anticipated from an Australian film.
Without giving away too many of the juicy bits, what basically unfolds for Jim is his slight derailment(pardon the pun for those of you who have seen it) into a state of despair which leads him to meet Charlie, an American dwarf (yes I'm not kidding you. Its the guy from Death At A Funeral) who commits to helping Jim win back Alice's heart in exchange of Jim delivering a love letter by Charlie to Jessica Morettie, who turns out to be what one would imagine, completely out of his league yet attainable. Finally, thrown into this mix is Peter Hellier's character Blake who plays Jim's best friend, his pregnant sister and his gameshow addicted brother-in-law.
The plot is laid out quite simply which works well with all the film's crazy antics and doesn't lose the viewer entirely. Along the way, particular details are revealed more and more about this ensemble class and their interactions with eachother. Finally, the film ends on a brilliant yet all too predictable moral note about the importance of love and letting those around you know it before its too late.
Peter Helliar has actually done a reasonable job with the writing on this one. I was amazed by how many times I laughed out loud in response to the dialogue at times and normally I only do that when sitting with a big bunch of friends (yes, I did go see this movie by myself). But I just couldn't help it: the script was funny, witty and brilliant timed which was aided by Helliar's friends who made up a majority of the main cast.
All in all, I have to admit after watching I Love You Too my faith in the Australian comedy genre has been slightly restored. I'm really excited to see what Helliar comes up with next and not only that but now, I also have a few ideas up my own sleeve about how our new film shall play out.
0 comments:
Post a Comment