Horseplay

This is a film that has tried desperately to look like others in a particular format, but has only managed to avoid being the black comedy it has tried so hard to be.

Using the intricate-web-of-subplots device, the film covers a bunch of rich types involved in the horsey set, but inevitably we don’t care for anyone because they’re all so vapid and vain, including the supposed ‘heroes’ of the piece. What has been intended as a comedy inspires little laughter and actually inspired that weird look people get on their faces when trying to understand a movie. Too many shallow and underdeveloped characters, too little plot and it seems built around one singular gag; The Race That Stops A Nation (I thought it was Bathurst).

Max has married to get his hands on her father’s money. Her father is Mr Coxhead (haha), a big time crooked horse trainer. When Max gets banned for life for race fixing, he takes a job shoveling shit as a stablehand for Coxhead. Max’s best friend is a walking penis who tries to help him get free of his bitchy wife by putting a huge bet on the only other horse with a shot at winning the cup. Except Coxhead has a winner in the race, so they organise a kidnapping of Coxhead’s jockey’s wife to stop him winning. Meanwhile, Walking Penis is shagging the nympho neighbour, who has an ex-friend who wants revenge on her, so steals her money and drugs. Then Max shows up, takes the possibly winning tickets and the ex-friend follows. Then the race. Then what follows.

It’s fairly convoluted with all those seeming coincidences coming along just handy to help the story out. They’ve obviously put some thought into the script and getting the storyline to all work out nicely, but illustrating a bunch of characters nobody could care less about isn’t a helpful tool. Having things just too perfect doesn’t help either because it isn’t fresh anymore, it’s old. I felt the same way about Lantana, actually. Smacks of someone else’s ideals adapted to an Australian audience, like we can’t come up with an idea of our own.

I found the only thing funny about this movie the actual race and seeing various people in serious positions stopping what they were doing to watch it. And I reckon this was the germ for the whole film. These dudes are sitting around going, "Yeah, imagine if you’re like busting a brothel and everyone stops to watch the race!" Then the other dude goes, "Yeah, like imagine on the set of a porn movie and the guy’s all like, in the middle y’know? That’d be so funny. Let’s write a movie about it."

Yawn.

Shot just last year, the film transfer looks fine. Delivered in sumptuous 2.35:1 with 16:9 enhancement, there are occasional artefacts, but the rest of the Buena Vista transfer is their usual brand of superb. Colours are bright and vibrant, blacks are true to life, shadow detail is clear and flesh tones are even and natural. Deliciously Buena Vista.

Two choices here, with Dolby stereo or Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. Both are pretty similar, and sound great. The 5.1 utilises more background stuff during the crowd scenes and the racing, but mostly it has little to do. Dialogue is all clear and easily understood, including a nice voiceover by Agent Smith himself Hugo Weaving, has been delivered smoothly. It might have made the film more fun to have him read it in Agent Smith’s voice. Oh well.

Sound effects are okay too, with the race stuff sounding awesome (pounding hooves and such), but some of the gunshots in the film are pretty thin. Bill Hunter gets a gun that sounds like it’s firing blanks. However, music is fine though incidental and slips in and out of the surrounds, but generally speaking is nothing to write home about.

There are but two. The first is a featurette that includes various soundbite interviews with the cast and writer/producer/director (just two guys did it all...). This runs for 12:16 and features way too much film footage that really pads it out. However, most of the major cast get a word in.

The only other offering is in the deleted scenes. Some are actually extended scenes, with recognisable footage within. These run for a grand total of 10:57 and thankfully have a 'Play All' feature. All 13 scenes are presented in 2.35:1 without enhancement, but come without context. And being such a convoluted storyline, it’s not easy to guess where they should have been. Oh well.

This suits doing the rental thing well, as I would seriously recommend checking it out before committing to purchase it. If you liked the way films like Lantana, Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels were told, this may be for you. However, it isn’t serious enough to be drama and not funny enough to be a comedy, so where that leaves us - well, you decide.