COMEDY; 1hr 37min
STARRING: Xavier Samuel, Kris Marshall, Kevin Bishop, Olivia Newton-John, Tim Draxl, Laura Brent
Ram beau: Draxl
Getting hitched in haste is enough of a risk without throwing your three best mates (Marshall, Bishop and Draxl) headlong into the mix, especially when they’re disaster-magnet Brit nitwits and you’re marrying into Australian political royalty. That’s about the size of it when Londoner David (Twilight ’s Samuel) and NSW Blue Mountains girl Mia (Brent) decide to tie the knot after a holiday romance. The costly do is held at Mia’s dauntingly palatial family home of Yester Grange, where the lads are miles from their, ahem, basic comfort zone and stuff matters up from the get-go.
When they’re firing, as this Dean Craig (Death at a Funeral ) screenplay ultimately does, there’s something strangely reassuring about the self-destructing rhythm of a bad-to-worst farce: as night follows day, disasters will mushroom into pandemonium while the frazzled characters play it dead straight. Director Stephan Elliott (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert ) has all bases covered — the guys are great together, Newton-John lets her hair down as Mia’s party-girl mum and Steve Le Marquand caps off the fizzy, silly fun as a needy drug dealer. And yes, there is a sheep in drag (played with aplomb by Ramsy). Naturally!
