Touches You

The Worst Film Ever

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This Australian comedy takes place in the 1970's in a cul-de-sac in a suburb near a beach-front. Its knockabout story focuses on the three families who live there. Written and directed by Stephan Elliott, this film is an autobiographical account of his life as a kid back in the day, with a few inventions added for good measure.This is a movie which will mainly appeal to those who can remember the 70's. It benefits from a colourful look which celebrates that decade's style and décor in all its gaudy excess. Just for its period detail alone, it is quite a good watch. The story is split 50/50 between the perspective of the adults and the kids. The comedy is often pretty broad and not in all honestly always fully funny, although it does definitely provide a few chuckles throughout. There is no narrative to speak of really and nothing of especial consequence happens more or less. Amongst other events, there is a beached whale, a swinger's party, kids making violent DIY movies, shag-pile carpets, K-TEL records, an Evel Knievel costume and unfortunate pets. Everything is a bit random and several scenes don't particularly lead anywhere. The concoction adds up to a sporadically amusing comedy which ultimately gets by on its fun 70' vibes.

If you were born like me in 73 you'll love this film. From the evel knievel stunt kid to the fondue, it's all that was oz in the late 70's. Hell we even had the same pool. I laughed my head off. Even the swinging bit was spot on for the time with all the parents getting pissed up and having a crack at the neighbours wife.lol The mo's are spot on and the clothes are like looking at photo's of my parents. Good to see the political correct 2000's didn't come into the making of this film, This is how it was back then, if you didn't do as your told you got a wack. I'm all the better for it and it was a better Australia than the nanny state we live in now, take a ride down memory lane and relive the golden years of Oz.

Energy abounds in this Aussie flick with lots of great set design and costumes to match and that's as far as it got for me. The rest was a bit of a dissapointment.Yes, I did expect a certain vulgarity to be present but some aspects of the narrative I just found just silly and at times plain stupid. Several minutes of voice over and fast cutting I found overwhelming at the start. There were some set pieces I found funny and was laughing along with the rest of the audience who were at times laughing more than I did, however it was these ridiculous parts of storyline that killed it for me. They kinda were absurd but the execution was where the word silly and stupid came in. Guy Pearce is always great but overall the cast's characters were not developed enough. Kylie Minogue and Jack Thompson's characters in particular were strangulated by the lack of thought given to them in the script. Mr Thompson's character just didn't go anywhere or vary. Not to blame him at all.....there was little heart in the characters overall. The sound mix however was well executed.

Simple yet brilliant accurate depiction of parenting/childhood during the 1970s. Any naysayers clearly were not brought up in this era. Wonderful fun, yet heartbreakly desperate teenage characters ground what could have been just a fluff piece. I could place every one of those characters into someone I knew from that era. The child actors were excellent. Hope to see a great deal more featuring Atticus Robb.