Now Showing at Sawtell Cinema

A Few Best Men
Rating: MA Running Time: 1 hrs 37 mins

Session Times: Thu 2-Feb 10:30 am, Thu 2-Feb 3:15 pm, Fri 3-Feb 10:00 am, Fri 3-Feb 2:45 pm, Fri 3-Feb 6:00 pm, Sat 4-Feb 10:15 am, Sat 4-Feb 1:45 pm, Sat 4-Feb 8:30 pm, Sun 5-Feb 3:00 pm, Sun 5-Feb 7:00 pm, Tue 7-Feb 10:00 am, Tue 7-Feb 3:00 pm, Tue 7-Feb 5:45 pm, Wed 8-Feb 10:00 am, Wed 8-Feb 2:00 pm

Synopsis:

When English lad David (Xavier Samuel) announces he is getting married to Mia (Laura Brent), an Australian he's just met on a Pacific Island holiday, his hapless London mates are aghast. But of course they wouldn't miss the Blue Mountains wedding - although by the time the big moment arrives David may have wished they had. Along the way, they have a run in with a crazed drug dealer (Steve Le Marquand) and a large Marino sheep, the pride possession of David's father in law, Senator Jim (Jonathan Biggins) as well as nursing their own neuroses.

Review by Louise Keller:
A sheep in drag, a runaway floral arrangement and Olivia Newton John as you've never seen her before are some of the memorable moments of this riot of a comedy in which the humour varies from outrageous to the ridiculous. Scripted by Death at a Funeral's Dean Craig, A Few Best Men cleverly combines its culture clash and buddy themes with a wild tale embracing family secrets, a drug deal gone wrong and a romantic wedding filled with hilarious mishaps.

Directed by Stephan Elliott (The Adventures of Priscilla) with his indefatigable joie de vivre and wicked sense of humour, the film is a sure fix if you need a laugh. It's a perfect marriage of British and Australian humour that translates to any nationality. The refined, the raucous and the rip-roaring rude collide in 97 minutes of sparkling mayhem.

It all starts with a romantic video clip shot on a tropical island in which holiday-makers David (Xavier Samuel) and Mia (Laura Brent) decide to get married. Back in London, the news of the impending nuptials in Australia bombs with David's three best friends, who feel he is deserting them. 'Holiday romances are meant to end at the airport, not the altar', they moan.

Kris Marshall and Kevin Bishop, who play Tom and Graham respectively, are the making of the film - such is the strength of their presence and hilarious performances. Tom (Marshall), is the outspoken hedonistic bachelor; Graham (Bishop) can't help playing the fool sporting a Hitler-esque moustache ('It's just the way my facial hair grows') and Luke (Tim Draxl) is the love-sick fool, dumped for someone rumoured to be missing an essential piece of the male anatomy.

Surprise, angst and resentment are squeezed into a jumbo jet (with umpteen stopovers) a single day before the wedding, as the groom-to-be and his best men make the long journey to the federation home situated on the edge of the beautiful Blue Mountains.

Jonathan Biggins has plenty of hide (and front) as Jim Ramm, the ambitious politician father of the bride, whose prize Merino sheep Ramsy (a splendid specimen) steals scene after scene - wearing bra, knickers and fire-engine red lipstick or being lowered surreptitiously from a first floor window. Poor Ramsy is the butt of many jokes, literally as well as physically: I refer to the scene in which Graham gets his arm dirty while recovering cocaine-filled condoms unwittingly munched by the sheep.

There are numerous well constructed, funny sequences - like the scene in which Steve Le Marquand's semi-naked, tattooed drug-dealer Ray takes a shine to Graham or when Graham tries to 'convert' Mia's supposedly lesbian sister Daphne (Rebel Wilson). In an inspired piece of casting, Olivia Newton-John is a knock-out as the stitched up mother of the bride, who shows that appearances can be deceiving.

I love the fact that the humour plays like a horn that is honked at both low and high decibels: subtle and not. Wacky and crass - in equal portions. Every scene is bursting with colourful ideas and each character looks as though he could star in his own movie. The cast looks as though it is having a whale of a time; the energy is contagious. The film looks a treat and the Blue Mountains setting impresses. Elliott keeps the pace moving and all the production values are excellent. This is a corker of a film with a feel-good guarantee.