Good movie but grossly overrated

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Australia is giving us some impressive films and Wish You Were Here is a fine example of that. Australia is churning out some amazing directors, actors and films. I'm at that point where I see Australian directors, I give it a view. And you should definitely give Wish You Were Here a view. It is difficult to write a review of a movie and not give away any plot points. The story is as much about a family and familial ties as it is about a mystery of a missing person. Nicely shot with superb actors and you get a nice little mystery with some family drama and international intrigue. A+

Two Sydney couples vacation in Cambodia, drop some E, and then one of them doesn't return. One wades through 90 minutes of feints and starts, red herrings and miscues, script McGuffins and irrelevant intrigue, all to get to the punchline, the climax, the upshot, the endpoint of what happens to Jeremy. You'll find out, in due time, boredom having grown sufficiently intense within you, only to realize knowing is not worth the tedium. We spend pointless time being faked out by the subplot that Steph, Jeremy's girlfriend, slept with sister Allison's husband (the wag in me watched this and kept saying, "no they didn't!" because it is miring digression that bears little credibility and no relevance). Australia's film industry can do way better than this jaded, cynical, unoriginal, stereotype-laden confection. I hope.

This film had a great deal of promise but fell short in my opinion. Excellent acting by the cast, mainly the performance of Joel Edgerton who portrays Dave the grief tortured, terrified family man superbly. The cast carried this film.The plot was solid, but I think the film suffers from the choppiness of the telling. The film opens with about 10 minutes of the vacation to Asia where the catalyst for the film originates could've been longer to eliminate some of the flashbacks, while still maintaining the mysterious integrity of the story. By the end of the film you have it figured out that the mystery around Jeremy's disappearance lacks optimism, but there is still shock factor in the reveal.Overall, solid movie, very well acted…just takes too long to get to the end which could've been improved upon by a slight difference in the way the story was told.

I know I'm a bit biased when it comes to the savants behind the Aquarius Films and Blue-Tongue Films collective but I can't help it: these guys are just too damn good!Wish You Were Here is an emotional roller-coaster that explores the varying reactions of human beings when they are faced with turmoil. Felicity Price (co-writer with husband Kieran Darcy- Smith) plays Alice, a pregnant, formidable mother who discovers after returning from holiday in Cambodia that her husband, Dave(Joel Edgerton) had an affair whilst on the trip. It is the who rather than the how that causes the most drama as the "other woman" was Alice's younger, crazier sister Stef(Teresa Palmer). This love-triangle drama is framed by the wittingly suspenseful disappearance of Stef's new boyfriend, Jeremy(Antony Starr), who vanishes during their final days in Cambodia seemingly without a trace.Darcy-Smith (DS) and the crew behind WYWH play the audience brilliantly: from their calculating publicity strategy to play up the disappearance of Jeremy over the main drama revolving around Dave and Alice's strained relationship; to the eventual unfolding of the film's overall story which happens as if pages of a book had been torn from the spine and fluttered on the ground, only for the reader to read them in whatever order he found them. It is a brilliant way to tell films that turns the traditional circular narrative completely on its head. DS and Felicity Price have a delightful way of writing which encourages the audience to view the narrative from all points of view. When you believe you have sided with one character, something happens next to completely change your allegiance and before you know it, you're rooting for the other side.The cast of this film is also well selected however, I believe some characters (and their corresponding actors) were downplayed a little too much for instance, the character of Stef and our lack of ability to experience her pain and grief and the loss of her new love. Of course, this is all done within reason which the viewer discovers towards the end of the film when we find out that Jeremy and Stef were only new flames, not old embers like Alice and Dave which, whilst it sounds cruel to say, doesn't encourage the audience to feel as sympathetic for their romance being cut short considering it only lasted 6 weeks. Still, Teresa and Antony both give it their all despite their limited screen time which only adds to Joel Edgerton and Felicity Price's performances who play their characters effectively and with a great sense of knowledge about the inner workings of their characters' minds. Its very difficult to watch actors who are inwardly judging their own roles but there is none of that from these two leads. This may come down to Felicity's affiliation with the story from the writing stage but at lot more can be attributed to her as a great actress, as it can with Joel and his capabilities.