One rip-off artist, seven heroes... and a party to crash.
When real-life entrepreneur Peter Dellasandro (Lachy Hulme) needed cash, he devised the mother of all get-rich-quick-schemes - by convincing the Quintex creditors board that he was the only man with the ability and recklessness to undertake the task demanded of his country - the kidnapping of Christopher Skase (Wayne Hassell).
Special Agent Matti
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
Christopher Skase is one of those people about whom no-one does not have an opinion. The funny part is that everyone seems to have the same opinion: he's a bastard!
Of course, that opinion is helped by the fact that he is a bastard.
As for the film, well, the only people who aren't upset by his barstardy are other bastards: nouveau riche Eurotrash. Everyone else who knows him is a true blue, dinky di Aussie, and they have nothing if not experience with bastards. After all, they've been electing them to parliament for the past 100 years. How about a Centenary of Federation National Bastard's Day, Little Johnny?
The depth in Let's get Skase comes from the immense suffering that Christopher and his big spending, small-moralled friends like Alan Bond caused to first time investors trying to get ahead in life. It provides a bottomless pit of blackness to counter the at times slapstick humour. Not that there's anything wrong with slapstick, it's just that such simple-minded humour needs something to provide an edge, a contrast... that's something which Hollywood has yet to learn: too much sugar makes you vomit.
Lachy has the over-the-top energy of the born con man but counters that with a deliciously ironic self-doubt. The best part about Peter is that he has to con himself before he can con others. Alex provides some eye candy and a useful piece of conscience for the morally-flexible Peter. Oddly enough, Alex manages to pronounce his character's name differently from everyone else in the film ("Dee-amato" rather than "Damato"), something which should not have been allowed to happen. Bill, Adam and Torquil round out the group of unlikely heroes with some only slightly clichéd characters: a racing car driver who can't drive on the street, a klutz who is as blind as a bat and an accountant with a secret desire for creating mayhem (that's almost an oxymoron). Fortunately they all exhibit the do-or-die spirit of Aussie larrikinism and a fair go, so it doesn't stretch the credibility of the film too much to have them turn into action superheroes after a few weeks of paramilitary training (fortunately, they get pretty fit but they remain just as stoopid as they were before).
What's really unusual is that there's no romance. Any Hollywood film would have a kick boxing babe who joins the team and falls in love with Alex' character. There would at least be the opportunity for some nudity if not actual sex. That whole romance thing is part of Hollywood's unending search for a film which appeals to every demographic and covers every possible genre. It's a good thing that Perth is on a different west coast than LA.
And now, a bad taste joke to round things off:
Q. What's the difference between Pixie Skase and the Australian cricket team?
A. The Australian cricket team is bringing home the Ashes.
M (Low level violence, low level coarse language)
100 minutes (1:40 hours)
Film: 18 October 2001
DVD rental: 10 April 2002
DVD retail: 10 April 2002
VHS rental: 10 April 2002
