Steve (Nick Giannopoulos) liked Celia (Lucy Bell) from the moment they met. But following a clash with her boss, Raelene Beagle-Thorpe (Geraldine Turner), Minister for Employment, he finds himself on national television, branded Australia's biggest dole bludger. Now Steve has to prove to Celia, to himself and to the whole country, that there's more to him than meets the eye.
And with a little help from his friends, he just might do it. As long as he can keep his best friend Frank (Vince Colosimo) away from Annie (Abi Tucker), Celia's little sister... and protect Frank's cousin Dom (John Baressi), from Tony (Costas Kilias), the insane local crime lord to whom Dom owes money... and prevent Theo (Tony Nikolakopoulos), an enterprising neighbour, from throwing himself in front of a car to collect the insurance... and stop Frank's dad Mario (Vince D'Amico) from sustaining injury while he tries to body slam pizza dough.
Mate, there's just got to be an easier way to meet chicks.
The wog boy: a comedy about love, politics, sex, religion, culture, cars and pizza. But not in that order.
Special Agent Matti
Mate, there's just got to be an easier way to make movies.
The wog boy cashes in on the whole Wogs R Us franchise (not surprisingly, since it's made by the same people) but does so at the lower end of the brow scale. That's a shame because there is room for some really cutting commentary on second generation migrants to Australia. Ah, well, at least they managed to show Centrelink and pollies up for the bastards they are.
Nick is pretty good as the eponymous (sounds like something you'd have for dessert), dole-bludging, narratory hero. He manages to be attractive without actually being all that good looking, in a woggy sort of way. Well, you can understand why Celia falls in love with him. Speaking of Celia, Lucy Bell actually manages to act in this film. in all her other stuff (including Murder one) she has no sense of humanity. This character is at last a rounded human being with dark and light aspects, a sense of humour and actual sexuality. Everyone else is a cypher, filling in with dialogue where character could've been.
The plot is pretty twisted, reminiscent of Sample people and manages to resolve itself without any loose ends. The unfortunate part is that, like Crackers, there is no great urge driving the story (or the characters). There are no life and death dilemmas, no terrifying deadlines, just some guy trying to stay on the dole. You can watch this flick, no worries, but you can't rave about it - The wog boy will, however, keep you entertained. Especially if you're a wog. If you're looking for something a bit more hard-core (and just as woggy) take a look at Head on.
M (Medium level coarse language, medium level sex scene)
88 minutes (1:28 hours)
VHS rental: 22 November 2000
