The Castle (1999)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Australia has always historically had a bit of a self-depreciating streak about it, deemed unofficially cultural cringe and dealt with unofficially with what we call tall poppy syndrome. We don't like someone who goes out of their way to show off how high and mighty they are. So The Castle is inherently a classic battler (underdog) story, about the little man sticking it to the bullying corporation. But if you saw what he was fighting for you might struggle to hold in a laugh. Dale Kerrigan narrates his family's life on 3 Highview Crescent, Coolaroo. It looks like a nice enough place until the camera pans ever so slightly to the left to reveal an airport runway not fifty metres from their backyard. Darryl fancies himself a bit of DIY guru so he has taken it upon himself to fashion 'extensions' of sorts, propped up by creaky metal scaffolding and tarps flapping about majestically in the wind. He and his family constantly beam inwardly and pinch themselves on getting such a prime piece of land for so cheap (its value hasn't risen once, despite all of Darryl's handiwork with the fake lace and chimney). Tracy is the prize hen of the Kerrigan's, and the only one in the family to have a Tafe degree (somewhat equivalent to a community college) in hairdressing, no less. The flip side of this situation is the black sheep, Wayne, who is in jail for attempted robbery. If you have ever lived in Australia you would know that we always start conversations or meetings with a "How are you" or a "how's it going", without actually wanting to know the specific answer to this question. It's a distinct pleasantry that has attached itself to our daily speech, and The Castle has a delightful play on this notion when Dale goes for his weekly visit to Wayne. They have nothing to talk about (Dale never mentions school, or a job, or anything remotely resembling a future prospect) so the entire conversation is basically a checklist of Wayne enquiring about the family's status: "How's Dad?", "Good", "How's Mum?", "Good", "How's Trace?", "Good" and so on for hours and hours. But they love each other very much all the same, and The Castle never tries to deny this. The Kerrigans and their ways are only a slight exaggeration from some working class Australian families, so the film is not laughing at them, but rather laughing with them. A key aspect of parody is being able to recognise these faults, and this makes the film so much more valuable when one can point out all the details it gets right. The serenity of a sweaty summer night for example, save for the constant hum of the bug zapper (and the cicadas, which the film forgets). Or how Darryl makes sure to use 'serenity' twice, as if to proudly demonstrate his knack for mastering slightly bigger words. The voice-over narration follows put; Dale's thought process is so literal he is sometimes simply followed by the exact dialogue of his recount. A young Eric Bana also joins in, pronouncing disenchanted like he had just looked it up in the dictionary and wants to impress his father-in-law. The family marvels at the luxurious riches afforded them on their honeymoon, mainly the freedom of choice between fish and beef wellington (an exotic term to them). One running joke has Steve constantly interrupting with listings from the sales section of the newspaper, and Darryl entertaining the idea of buying anything and everything, then shooting down the asking price without a second thought. Dads want to show that they are resourceful, but also frugal; Darryl has the uncanny ability to identify the market value of anything that Steve might want to purchase. One guy is selling seven eskies all at once. You can never have too many eskies. Rob Sitch would follow his directorial debut with another warmly Australian movie, The Dish, which was about the contributions of a small New South Wales town's radio telescope in the first manned mission to the moon. If these movies lean heavily on a certain type of caricature ala Ozploitation, then they do so in a good-natured way. They could never ever be set in the big city, where we have all but assimilated into the civilised ways of the west. These days, if we do say "You ripper!" it's probably in an intentional, ironic way, although like the film itself, there's an element of playing along with a grin.

The Castle is an example of poor Australian filmography. Not only does it conform to stereotypes as a last ditch attempt to humor, it does so blatantly obviously that it is far short of many of the great pieces of cinema that emerge from here. Satire is primarily used to evoke laughs from the viewer, but the result is a one and a half hour cringe-fest, with poor writing, poor direction and poor scripting. The actors are a class below average, and we are not positioned to sympathise with the Kerrigen's in anyway throughout the plight although that was the authors invitation. Essentially, the Castle is about bogans being bogans, and we are meant to laugh at this? The difference between the Simpsons and this is that the Simpsons is cleverly written, with charm and heart. The Castle is crude in nature, so much so that any form of empathy is lost in the first few minutes. Overall, I strongly recommend you miss this one out and go watch an actual film.

The Castle is from Australia and refers to the saying a man's home is his castle; in this case, of the Kerrigan family. A mom, a dad, two sons, and a daughter. It opens with one of the sons as narrator. He voices over the scene of his father standing beside their house by an airport runway. He explains how his pop hot a great deal on the property because of location, location, location. A huge power line with big steel towers also runs through their land.The look is similar to an old Saturday Night Live sketch with Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi extended to an hour and a half, and therein lies the problem. The naive cuteness of these oddballs wears thin rather quickly. The airport is about to expand and is buying the houses under what would be eminent domain here in the United States. They refuse to sell and go to court with an inept lawyer to fight the order. After losing, a counsel who is a constitutional expert represents him in Australia's Supreme Court. As a comedy, it just isn't very funny, and as a message concerning the mistreatment of Aborigines, it is extremely shallow. The Castle is a mediocre film with an average cast and so so script.

The Castle is about a typical Aussie battler family who happen to live directly next to an airport in Melbourne, and by next to I mean that the runway ends about 100-200 yards from their house. Their family is extremely happy and almost every member of the family seems to be living a satisfying and 'fulfilling' life. All is well until one day the father, Darryl Kerrigan (Michael Caton), is approached and is told that he must sell his house because the airport is expanding. After an initial f**k off, Dale realizes that this is a serious threat and decides to fight the big business and take everyone to court. The result is a comical journey of the Kerrigan family struggle to keep their house and remain a tight knit happy family. The Castle is a small guy versus the big guys film that has a sentimental emotional core, and many jokes are derived from the story of a charming family defending their home against a compulsory acquisition.Performances from a talented Australia cast breathe life into a bunch of quirky but lovable characters. Michael Caton is especially great as the father of the family, Darryl Kerrigan, a lovable oaf with a heart of gold. Veteran actor Charles (Bud) Tingwell also appears as a wise lawyer who takes it upon himself to defend the Kerrigans.The script was written by Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy and Sitch - all regulars on TV's The Panel. They have a sound sense of joke timing, and how to keep audiences interested. The Castle is a rare find; a funny, wonderful piece that shines in its own homely, honest way.