By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: P.J. Hogan
Starring: Anthony LaPaglia | Liev Schreiber | Rebecca Gibney | Toni Collette
Country: australia, united_states
Year: 2013
Running time: 116
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1655416/combined
Kyle says: “Whether you are a potential viewer of this latest work by the director best known for MURIEL’S WEDDING depends on how open you are to a comedy about mental illness. The title refers not only to the wildly dysfunctional family of Barry and Shirley Moochmore (Anthony LaPaglia and Rebecca Gibney) and their five daughters, but also to the baby-sitter or nanny or au pair named Shaz (Toni Collette) Mr. Moochmore hires to look after the daughters when his wife has a nervous breakdown. The film commences with a shot-by-shot recreation of the opening of THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965), with Gibney imitating Julie Andrews while the daughters research the vocabulary of mental illness such as bipolar and schizophrenia online and in books. Regarding life as a continuous series of movie musical numbers and/or imitating Julie Andrews in one of them is not conclusive proof of insanity, although Mrs. Moochmore’s acting on a friend’s advice is: ‘You go shopping, and you just keep shopping until you cheer up!’ The entire front lawn of the Moochmore home is consequently filled with useless furniture and accessories. ‘Auntie Shaz’ is clearly bonkers herself, but she takes the daughters in hand and teaches them about the nature of individuality and non-conformity. She also founders in a relationship with Trevor Blundell (Liev Schreiber), a shark hunter and carny who sagely observes, ‘I’ve battled insanity, and it’s a shark.’ The movie expends its scant good will early on, and we have been to this well many times before (KING OF HEARTS, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST). By the time mother and daughters unite in choir formation at the sanatorium for ‘Climb Every Mountain’ and father leads a town meeting rendition of ‘Edelweiss’ we have been more than generous regarding the daughter’s observation that ‘If we’re not mental, we’re just unpopular.’ 1 cat
“Seen Tuesday, March 26, 2013, SVA Theatre (School of Visual Arts), New York.”
Thom says: “Director Hogan has made two great films previously in MURIEL’S WEDDING & UNCONDITIONAL LOVE but a spate of mediocre efforts in PETER PAN, MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING, & CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC, so I was overjoyed to see him return to his wacky, demented best. Hogan relates that the story was based on his growing-up years but if so high marks to him for finding so many laughs in this atypical dysfunctional family. LaPaglia plays Barry Moochmore a politician running for mayor and totally ignoring his family’s plight while also being a serial philanderer. His wife Shirley is consistently on the verge of losing it and his five daughters all think they are suffering from some sort of undiagnosed mental illness. When Shirley has a nervous breakdown Barry puts her in a mental hospital and he quickly realizes that he can’t care for his daughters.
“On the spur-of-the-minute decision he hires Shaz (a stunning Collette, but she’s always brilliant since I discovered her in MURIEL’S WEDDING, lo, those many years ago), a wayward hitchhiker that he sees pounding the pavement and puts her in his home. Unmanageable kids, a freaky nanny, all of a sudden I thought we were wandering into MARY POPPINS or NANNY McPHEE territory, but, rest assured, nothing could be further from the truth. In the first place, there’s nothing proper about Shaz, and while indeed she does indeed heighten the five teens’ consciousness, her methods are controversial and naughty to the extreme. There’s a sub-plot involving the eldest daughter who starts working in an amusement park for a man who runs a shark attraction, Trevor Blundell (Shreiber, in an almost unrecognizable turn) who turns out to be connected with Shaz.
“The film is fully unpredictable in a charming way and yet it has a serious edge that drifts towards the macabre. I’ll admit that some might find many of the sequences are off-putting by making light of mental problems but I found the results life-affirming. 5 cats”