Really Surprised!

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

In a small town in New South Wales, Austrailia, Rex (Michael Caton) is a septuagenarian cab driver who learns he has fourth stage cancer. As he is determined to avoid dying in a hospital, he takes on a journey of travelling thousands of kilometers to Darwin in another state (Northern Territory) where legislation is in progress to legalize euthanasia.In addition to the affable Rex, the viewer is blessed with other interesting characters in Rex's town and those he meets during his journey. They include Polly (Ningali Lawford-Wolf), his aboriginal neighbour who is also his occasional secret lover; Tilly (Mark Coles Smith), a young, aboriginal man who is likeable but carries a lot of emotional baggage; Julie (Emma Hamilton), a nurse from London who is taking a break from her job as she lives and works in Australia; and Dr. Farmer (Jacki Weaver), the doctor in Darwin who is spearheading the campaign to legalize euthanasia.Rex is an interesting character and quite funny (as is much of the film) but it's hard to get why he would go through so much in his condition to reach his goal. It's also difficult to believe that he could drive such a long journey, mostly on his own. Polly, Tilly, and Julie are all delightful and engaging. Their individual stories add greatly to the movie's impact. Weaver does her best as Farmer but it's really hard to get this character and her motives as the movie progresses in the second half.There could be good reasons to give this movie a 7 rating but there are flaws and unbelievable moments that bring in down a notch.

This is the kind of movie, when I was young I took a bus ticket to town for, and went in a small art movie theater watch original movies.The story is simple, but the actors look like they have been filmed, not playing a role, but living it. Sure there are a few flaws. The Doctor not looks real, compared to the other characters, some people encountered are a bit too stereotype, but you always get involved with this "normal" Joe Taxi driver.The pace is slow, but nevertheless, you are at the edge of your seat, what will happen next. I got sentimental in the beginning of the movie, what he would do to the dog. It even upset me so much, that I thought now the movie was ruined for me. Lucky it did not, and I saw the best, most human movie this year.

I actually signed up to IMDb just to write this review. Having stumbled upon this film by accident, I couldn't have been more moved. Michael Caton delivers an Oscar worthy performance that had me in tears throughout. In fact the entire cast deliver a completely immersive experience that transported me to the Australian outback, in particular the actors who played Polly and Tilly. And there is no doubt the performances would have shone so brightly without an incredible script. The story is one of both joy and sadness and despite the fact I hate to cry I just could not stop watching. I am a huge fan of the film Australia because of the incredible scenery, which is partly why I decided to give this (which I heard nothing about) a try. I was not disappointed. Everything about this film is beautiful.

One of the great Australian success stories of a very profitable 2015 for local films, Jeremy Sims Last Cab to Darwin scored over 7 million dollars in local box office receipts this year and garnered an equal share of critical and audience good will that will likely see it become a staple in collections of local film lovers for years to come. Adapting Reg Cribb's successful stage play of the same name and casting Australian identity Michael Caton in the role that he portrayed in that very play, Sims has done a fine job at transplanting a play into a feature length film and his capturing of the dusty plains of outback Australia as Caton's dying cab driver and lonely soul Rex heads off on a road trip from South Australia's Broken Hill to Darwin is one of the films highlights. But it's not all smooth sailing for Sim's as he finds trouble maintaining momentum in the film which starts off particularly strong and engaging but through a misguided and cliché ridden final act loses stem, particularly with a bunch of side characters that feel slightly underdeveloped and also far to "movie like" to feel real. Caton delivers what could well be his finest ever moment as Rex a man we come to care for in a short period of time and Caton's experience with both comedy and drama serve him well as he balances a nice line between humour and pathos. Rex's journey (which is supposedly based around some true events) feels real and emotion filled but with the film itself set up for a 2 hour long trip, Rex's ride to be euthanized before cancer slowly kills him gets filled with Mark Coles Smith's (who sadly overplays) lost young man Tilly and Emma Hamilton's English ex-pat Julie's loving nurse and both these characters while at moments help the film along also take a little too much away from the film and it would've been nice to have seen them play smaller roles and Sims to have had more faith in Caton to carry the film along as he was seemingly more than up to the task.One of the better feel good (and sad) Australian movies in some time, The Last Cab to Darwin would be an incredibly hard films to dislike and while it never breaks out into being an undeniably standout classic, its deserving of its warm reception and likely long standing place in the hearts of Australian movie goers that found themselves investing in this likable tale of one man's journey to find himself in world that seemingly passed him by. 3 ½ cat trees out of 5