Stiff (2004)

Awesome Movie

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

No, that isn't the name of a Pub near my house, it is a description of this TV movie set in good IL' Melbourne, Australia.Most people would recognise David Wenham from Van Helsing as Hugh Jackman's little off-sider, but he is the main star of this (hopefully) series of movies where he plays Murray Whelan who seems to end up in many awkward predicaments throughout the show.It is probably aimed more at Australian audiences to be honest, but it is well written, well acted and very amusing in parts. Murray Whelan is a likable character which may explain why there are a couple of his adventures out there.As far as a mystery goes, it wasn't terribly hard to work things out in the end, but as it is sort of set up as a potential series of films, it is very good at telling us about the character and giving us an understanding of what he's about.Good to see a cameo of our state Premier in there too! Looking forward to more in the series.

Wenham is excruciating: the man can't act, he can only inflect his voice affectedly. Steve Bracks gave a better performance; at least he didn't say anything, which was an improvement on Wenham.The script is excruciating: talk, talk, talk, and all the 'jokes' unfunny.The mystery is about up to the standard of a sub-par episode of Scooby Doo; why didn't someone call the cops?, who would have solved the crime in less time than this telemovie takes.Typical of Australian television that we have to have a fake show of multiculturalism from an entirely Anglo project, in which even the Turkish love-interest girl is played by an Anglo actress. (Couldn't have had Wenham falling for a *real* Turkish girl, of course!)This crock belonged on the ABC (government television). Nuff said.

An amusing and entertaining TV-movie, "Stiff" showcases David Wenham as Murray Whelan, political fixer and amateur investigator.It made me laugh with its combination of in-jokes, political cameos, and physical humour: in this respect, the translation from the page to the screen allowed the telemovie to become the superior story - however, the detail of the book was obviously missing in the adaption.Finally, Wenham came across as a cross between his characters Jim Doyle ("The Bank") and Johnny Spitieri ("Gettin' Square"): Knowledgeable but also slightly sloppy and tired. The supporting cast did a great job, as did John Clarke on the story adaption.All up, Three and a Half out of Five.

This film, while written by a talented funny man, with a good acting line up, did nothing for me. It lacked a beginning, an ending and a plot. Finding a dead man then researching through everything, only to find Mr Whelan dogged by bad guys, and no link was ever established as to why. I expected better work from Aussie film makers. This only serves to send Australian films back 30 years when the merest hint of one sent shudders down my back. It wasn't funny, not even amusing, it totally sucked. An awful lot was said about fictional and notable Turkish names of employees at the meatpacking plant, yet no connection was established with them and that exclusive club, and having politicians playing cameos was just plain silly. Are Australian writers wanting to lose out to big budget companies in America when it comes to quality TV movies? The Australian public deserve better than the trash it currently gets. I'll give it a 1/10 and that's being nice.