Strange Bedfellows

Synopsis: Vince (Paul Hogan) lives in the cute rural backwater of Yackandandah where he runs a movie house. His good mate Ralph (Michael Caton) is the local car mechanic. When Vince's ex-wife does a legal swiftie and lands a huge tax bill on him, Vince decides to take advantage of a new legislation that will give big tax breaks to same-sex couples. That means convincing Ralph to get in on the scam.

This film has caused rumblings among some in the gay community who deride it as being homophobic and stereotypical. While this may be partially true, the film is at the same time so deeply grounded in country ocker reality, and has a such a big-hearted resolution that I can forgive some of its outlandishness.

Director Murphy hails from north-east Victoria and claims to have based some of his characters upon the sorts of people he grew up with - country folk with no experience of gay people and hence lacking understanding of anything different from their rather narrow norms. It is not these characters but rather the over-the-top stereotypes of gays - Glynn Nicholas as Eric the totally effete local hairdresser, and the wonderful drag queens from the Sydney bar that Vince and Ralph visit to learn how to put on a good show for the tax man - that have generated critical comment. But all of these characters have more to them than meets the eye and lend some amusing and even touching angles to the plot and probabaly it is missing the spirit of things to take matters over-seriously. There are, for instance, also some rather silly scenes of the local CFA firemen, which milk cheap laughs and innuendo in a way that is a bit cringe-worthy. And does there still exist such a local town gossip as Faith, played by Monica Maughan?

If subtlety is hardly the strong card here, underpinning the film is the performances of Hogan and Caton. Hoges is not afraid to make an utter idiot of himself, limp-wristing it in sparkly lycra bike shorts and joining the drag queens up on stage. When he shows the more serious side of his character he is terrific too. Michael Caton gives Ralph a very affectionate edge, and his endless embarrassment and awkwardness give plenty of laughs. But it is the gentle and true mateship of these guys that really shines in their characters, brought out well by both the script and the actors and while the idea of them being a gay couple is intentionally ludicrous, the love they have for each other is credible. Pete Postlethwaite plays Russell the taxman, and while he is usually a tour-de-force actor, he disappointed me here with a rather bland performance.

A sweet touch is added with the character of Carla (Kesti Morassi), Ralph's daughter, his relationship with her and her role in the film's denouement. Aussie film stalwart Roy Billing shows up yet again again and radio personality Tracey Bartram has a tiny role.

I'm a big one for supporting our home-grown film industry, and whilst this is not a roll-in-your-seat comedy it gives enough laughs and entertainment, political incorrectness notwithstanding.

 

 

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