An Ideal Host

I started watching this based on its high reviews. Then I came to the reviews in the middle of watching it and noticed how the reviews were mostly thumbs down. I see why and that's why it's important to have the thumb down feature. I'm a big fan of comedy and craziness, but this movie is no good. Maybe it's because I'm not Australian but I don't find any of this movie funny or entertaining in any way. The acting is not good and everything is forced. It's like some kind of improv theater group. And as the audience, I don't care about any of the people and I don't care that the party is not going as planned. The music is pretty decent, though.

Imagine that you planned the perfect dinner party and then things started to go a bit wrong. And then even more wrong. How wrong? The only way to describe it would be to compare this film to a movie where King Kong was tearing the Titanic apart just before it hit the iceberg. The action just keeps getting more and more extreme until it reaches complete madness, and it goes a few steps more. This movie is great fun if you have a taste for the absurd.

An Aussie Indy film, small budget, small cast, but it is neither deserving a highly rated score, nor bottom of the barrel ones. And it is best viewed without knowing anything about the movie. Liz and Jackson are planning a dinner party with their close friends, and are practicing their marriage proposal, as they want it just right. And after 10 years together, they decided it was the right time. Liz is one to want things perfect, and she has everything timed to the minute, from when the 'good' wine will be served to when dessert will be served. She gets up the next morning ready to set the table, but she has a problem deciding on the theme. And no one can possibly have as many different dinner sets as she has to go along with different decor themes. But there is a wrinkle, in that Daisy, who was not invited, is coming along with some other guests. Daisy is known as prone to drinking, and an overall disruptive force. Daisy arrives, and naturally starts to interfere with Liz's tight schedule. She immediately searches out the 'good' wine, not the regular wine before dinner Liz wanted to serve. And Mara, invited, can't help but keep reminding everyone she just got back from Bali. So there are plenty of conflicts, open and simmering that could upset the tight schedule Liz has set for the dinner. About 2/3 through the movie, there is an unexpected twist that no one could expect, and sends the movie in a much different direction. I don't think this is the strongest part of the movie.

It flew under the radar as i can tell. For me, it's underrated. It was very enjoyable and it kept me guessing during the first half. I didn't know if it was a dark comedy, a comedy/mystery, a comedy/horror, a comedy/sci fi etc. I won't reveal the genre because that would be a spoiler and you should watch it without reading anything about the plot. Acting was good, it's well directed, there are some funny moments and during the last 30 minutes, it gets more intense. Of course this is a movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, so don't expect anxiety-inducing scenes. Lower your expectations and you'll probably enjoy it, especially if you are in the mood for a fine, little flick that tooks place mostly in a night. Still, this is definitely not a 10/10 or 9/10, come on, reviews like this raise the expectations and viewers get then disappointed.

This is a legitimately fun little low budget Australian indie horror comedy. The microbudget is used well and while some of the effects show the limitations of what they were working with, that's really about all that does.

The opening, while very much comedic, set such a good stage about something being decidedly wrong about the main couple, Liz and Jackson, and their relationship beyond their obvious superficiality that I expected the nature of the horror reveal to be something entirely different than what it ended up being, even if it was honestly fairly telegraphed in retrospect. The script is smarter than I'd expected as well, and the cast does really well with the material. No intended shade to the Australian horror comedy tradition, but most of the ones I've seen previously seemed to be trying too hard to be early Peter Jackson to bother actually being well made, interesting, or even attempt anything of their own, so I'd not had the highest hopes for this movie to be different. Happily, that was not the case here at all.

Take a chance on this one if you like quirky little character-driven indie comedies alongside your dose of over the top splatter. The latter reminded me a bit more of a slightly more grounded Evil Dead approach than early Jackson or really even later Raimi - gory and at not intended to always be entirely realistic, but not necessarily fully goofy and goopy.