Yes. I, rooprect, am offering a money-back guarantee with this film. That's how confident I am that you'll think it's funny.
When I saw this for $4 in the Blockbuster used pile, the DVD cover wasn't very convincing nor were the reviews on the back which made it sound like an ABC afterschool special. I figured it would be a dud. But since I'd never seen an Australian film & I like Australian accents, I figured it would be a decent way to kill an hour & a half.
2 minutes into it, I LOL'd. A few minutes later I LMAO'd. And when they said that line about Brandon Lee, I actually ROFL'd. The gags kept coming, and at one point I thought to myself there's no way they could keep up the pace without becoming absurd. But somehow they managed to deliver laughs throughout AND also develop some very interesting characters and an engaging story with some super cool dance moves & super cute girls (not to mention 1 boy who's such an amazing dancer it'll make you want to try a backflip or two).
It's hard not to compare this film to "Spinal Tap", "Mighty Wind" and the other great mockumentaries by Christopher Guest because the format is very similar. But Razzle Dazzle is refreshing enough that you'll never think of it as a Guest ripoff, even though it fits right in. What makes it so refreshing? The extras.
Yes, the real stars of this film are the young, 11-13 year-old girls who play the dancers in this misfit dance troupe. They don't say a lot of lines, but whenever they're on camera their expressions & reactions are so hilarious you'll find yourself rewinding to watch them again in the background. In the "Making Of" featurette on the DVD, the director said he achieved this by not telling the girls the script beforehand, so their reactions are 100% genuine. There was also quite a bit of ad-libbing. The result is pure comedic perfection.
The adult actors were great themselves. Each person plays a caricature of reality but they do it so convincingly that you never stop to think you're being had. There's a loser, a spaz, a bitch, a clueless mom, and a weird goth chick in one of the funniest non-speaking roles I've seen. Really, everyone did a fantastic job. I think this is one of the greatest examples of deadpan humour I've seen in a long time.
I can't believe only 340 IMDb people have voted on this film to date. "Razzle Dazzle" definitely gets my vote for the best undiscovered gem in the last 10 years.
