Ben isn’t engaging enough to make this a standout

Website: imdb.com
Director: Rob Sitch
Lead: Josh Lawson
Co-Star: Rachael Taylor
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 97mins
Rating: M
Stars: ★★★

In Any Questions for Ben?, Ben (Josh Lawson) is a 27 year old living the good life in Melbourne. he has a well paid ‘brand strategy’ type job, good friends, lots of girlfriends but nothing to tie him down. There is a fantastic scene in which Ben is grilled by his father (Rob Carlton – who works for Jayco selling caravans) about what he actually does – because he cannot explain it to his mate. Ben isn’t able to give him a satisfactory answer – which is a situation I often find myself in with my parents – but in Ben’s case it is because there isn’t much substance to the marketing jobs he does.

He doesn’t keep a girlfriend for longer than a couple of months; and his jobs doesn’t last much longer. With his mate Andy (Christian Clark) he spends his time planning his next adventure – whether it is nightclubbing or skiing or climbing some mountain.

That is until he is invited back to his old school to join several other ex-students to talk about his achievements. Alex (Rachael Taylor) is a hard act to follow. She is a human rights lawyer working in Yemen and all the kids are interested in asking her questions. When it comes to time for Any Questions for Ben? there are none – it pushes him into a year of soul searching about what he has achieved in life.

During the year he hooks up with Alex but doesn’t follow through; he gets advice from his over the top mentor Sam (Lachy Hulme) and ultimately it is the wedding of his mate Nick (the very sweet – now that he is not a serial killer – Daniel Henshall) and Em (Felicity Ward) that pushes him over the edge to make some drastic changes in his life.

I shall not spoil just what those changes are.

The film is slick and sophisticated when it needs to be and down to earth when required – but the biggest problem for me is that I didn’t like Ben. I liked the people around him but he just never engaged me enough to make me interested in his future. Which is a bit of a let down for this kind of film.

Melbourne looks good though.

A little too simple minded for its own good – but still a few laughs

Website: afewbestmenthemovie.com
Director: Stephan Elliott
Lead: Xavier Samuel
Co-Star: Laura Brent
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 97mins
Rating: PG
Stars: ★★★

Brit David (the cute Xavier Samuel) meets Aussie Mia (Laura Brent) on a holiday in Tuvalu (of all places) and they impulsively decide to get married. When he arrives home to London his mates are aghast (not only at the fact he walks into his own surprise welcome home party naked). He, along with Tom (Kris Marshall), Graham (Kevin Bishop and Luke (Tim Draxl, head to the Blue Mountains (although the airport in the film doesn’t look anything like Sydney Airport) for the wedding.

The film itself doesn’t take a lot of brain power and the jokes are a probably aimed more at stereotyping Australians in the minds of the British audience than would be ideal – but there are some laughs hidden in amongst this. The most laughs come from the haphazard antics of Tom and Graham including a sheep in drag and the interaction between the the two of them and the local drug dealer with whom they have some misfortune.

The funniest characters for me are Mia’s parents – Senator Jim (Jonathan Biggins and his wife (Olivia Newton-John). Imagine Olivia turning into a coke snorting party girl all while her Senator husband is trying to impress half the Australian parliament at the wedding. The other standout is Rebel Wilson who I actually enjoyed for once.

The film seems to be a bit of a showcase for past and present Sydney Theatre Company actors – with Steve Le Marquand making an appearance as the drug dealer.

A Few Best Men will make you smile without making you think too much about it – a key feature of many Australian comedies.

IMDb