Rikky and Pete (1988)

Strong and Moving!

How sad is this?

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

After Malcolm, that did set the bar pretty high, we drop back a bit with a less successful Aussie comedy, that still manages to be bloody entertaining, where again we are reminded with familiarity to who penned this. This film's good but just not as good as Malcolm was. Sister (Landis) and brother (Kearney) team, take off to the outback, as little brother, you could say, has got himself into a bit of trouble with authorities. Pete is an immature, inventive, and causes a lot of unnecessary trouble, and has anger issues to. He makes obscene phone calls to authorities, causes chain cop car collisions, etc, with his smart arse stunts, as posing as fictional character Evil Donald. He has a newspaper business, he operates from his car, his delivery of them in the form of paper gliders has to be seen. He has trouble with his folks, where really sister, Rikki, a budding singer/guitarist, is the only one who really understands him, where this getaway, is like a last resort, one outburst I'll never forget has Rikki walking off in a huff, after spouting "F off Peter". They make new friends, in the outback, while also getting wealthy as doing a bit of prospecting. Trouble finally catches up with Pete in the form of city cop, (Bill Hunter) who really has it for him, and that's after Pete really makes an arse of himself one night in town, in some drunken and disorderly behavior, racking up quite a fine. His behavior tends to be worrying, where you really don't want to see anything happen to this problematic guy. I really liked Landis's character in this. She reminded a lot of my own sister's character, where Rikki, is a character I think is afraid, of falling in love, while Kearney is so so as Pete. There are a lot of entertaining moments in this film, though I found the movie a little dry or sagging, and as a runner up to Malcolm, you could of down far worse. For lovers of Malcolm, and others, a different and original comedy.

Some guy spends his time destroying the career of a cop by playing practical jokes on him. So some guy's sister says let's drive out in the desert. Then they sleep in the desert for no good reason. The next day they drive to a gas station and then a town. Maybe it's illegal to drive in a desert at night in Australia. Along the way, they meet a lot of people who want the sister to lip sync some music, and some guy makes a lot of silly "inventions" that do not work except for the miracle of modern editing. When some guy isn't messing with the cop, he screws with other people's lives. They're rich people who are on the run because a cop with no proof is mad at one of them for a minor offense; so naturally part of the movie is about them looking for permanent jobs. In the end, nobody kills some guy, but that's why they make sequels.

Two wealthy Australian siblings — one an attractive geologist, artist, and country-western songwriter, and the other an unmotivated mechanical whiz kid in trouble with the law — borrow their crippled mother's Bentley and leave their uptown Melbourne mansion to 'go outback', enjoying several adventures along the way, none of which amounts to much. The same writer/director team tries to repeat the luck they had with their 1986 feature 'Malcolm', but the results this time around are too relaxed and unfocused, to say the least. The travelers stop to perform some music (with support from ex-members of the Down Under pop group Split Enz), try their luck at gold mining, and build several clever mechanical toys, but like the outback itself the script ranges all over the map without arriving anywhere. The film isn't exactly pointless, but it's not exactly brimming with purpose either. There's a token crisis involving a vengeful backwoods sheriff, but with no real conflict there's no need for resolution, and the film disappears from memory almost as soon as the end credits finish rolling.

Shrewd and spunky geologist Rikky Menzies (a radiant and excellent performance by Nina Landis) aspires to be a country and western singer/songwriter. Rikky and her willful and mischievous mechanical genius brother Pete (a fine and likable portrayal by Stephen Kearney) decide to get away from their disapproving and overbearing wealthy father (a perfectly hateful Don Reid) and hit the road in search of a new life. The siblings wind up in a small remote rural community where they purchase a mine and start their own business. Director Nadia Tass and screenwriter David Parker concoct a disarmingly low-key and quirky charmer about living life the way you want to live it sans compromise that ambles along at a relaxed, yet steady pace, wins the viewer over with its amiably aimless tone and unpredictable rambling narrative, and offers a wondrous wealth of amusingly flaky incidental details (the babbling religious loony with the runaway car that goes only ten miles in hour in particular is a complete riot!). Landis and Kearney make for very appealing leads; they receive terrific support from Tetchie Agbayani as Rikky's sweet and perky girlfriend Flossie, Bill Hunter as vengeful ramrod police sergeant Whitstead, Bruno Lawrence as the hearty and rugged Sonny, Bruce Spence as the friendly Ben, Lewis Fitz-Gerald as smitten nerd Adam, and Peter Cummins as sleazy mine boss Delahunty. Moreover, Pete's wacky inventions are very cool, Nikky's songs are extremely catchy and tuneful winners, the outback scenery is often breathtaking, the characters are a colorful assortment of endearing oddballs, and the movie concludes on a lovely upbeat note. The bouncy and harmonic score by Brain Baker and Eddie Raynor further adds to the considerable irresistibly breezy'n'easy charm. Parker's sparkling picturesque cinematography delivers plenty of strikingly beautiful images. A thoroughly pleasant and satisfying delight.