The Wog Boy

Steve is a Greek man living in Australia since his family emigrated there many years prior. Since being teased as a `Wog Boy' in school, he has decided to live a Wog boy and be proud of his heritage. A run in with the Minister for Education sees him portrayed on tv as a dole sponger, however, when he goes on the show to defend himself he comes off the better and becomes famous. The Minister employs Steve to help develop new policies on unemployment, but is that all she is after?

I was drawn to the film by the unusual title – it is not often you see a film that has a racist term in the title, and I assumed I could get all worked up about it in a Daily Mail type of way. Sadly for my middle-class rage, this film has so much self mocking energy that it is impossible to be offended by it. The downside of all this energy is that it doesn't manage to cover the fact that the film itself isn't actually very funny. The plot is, well, pointless, which leaves it only with ethnic stereotypes from which to draw it's humour.

These stereotypes are actually pretty funny at times, but I suggest this film will generally appeal to those who identified with My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Outside of these the film has little to do and fills it's time with shouting and hand waving to keep the energy high. I enjoyed watching it as I was coming off a bad day of food poisoning and needed something silly and energetic to raise my spirits but I must admit that I did notice that I wasn't actually laughing very much at all.

The cast are pretty good I guess, despite all being cartoon characters in one way or another. Giannopoulos is enjoyable as Steve and seems natural in the role, a side effect of writing it I suppose, but most of the rest fall into one ethnic stereotype or another.

Overall this has energy and is silly if that is what you want. If you have a background similar to these characters then you may get more from it. But it is hard not to notice just how few actual laughs there are in the 90 minutes.

This is a film which has been long overdue! I have seen the live performances of "Wog-A-Rama" and "WogBoys" twice each, and laughed the whole time! "The WogBoy" is a film I would definitely recommend especially if you are a "wog". Of course "Skippies" would find it humourous as well, but only wogs can totally relate to the stories and the lines and laugh themselves silly! Great performances by Nick Giannopoulos, Vince Colosimo, Abi Tucker & Geraldine Turner. Highly Recommended.

I thought this movie was a crack up, it was good that it was more than a love story but rather a comedy about a race of friends and their views of life in an Australian society. I thought they all did a great job, and it's good to see that Abi Tucker and Lucy Bell got into something great after "heartbreak high" and "murder call" ! Nick Giannopolous does an excellent job as his character Steve, and a great job and creating this movie

Ethnic humour seems to be Nick Giannopoulos' forte, and subsequently 'The Wog Boy' is basically the movie version of his Australian television series, and his stage plays. Where all 3 mediums rely on ethnic humour, and being Greek is the subject of them. Granted, this film came out before the American affair 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding', yet the latter film was more convincing as a romantic comedy and as a movie. 'The Wog Boy' doesn't really work in that respect, and when I viewed this film, it felt like Nick Giannopoulos was simply rehashing the ethnic jokes in his earlier mediums.

Still, 'The Wog Boy' is good for a few laughs, but you won't find any substance to this film, nor will you find it that memorable. Vince Colosimo is a welcome addition, but he was better in 'Chopper'. I don't think Nick G. is movie star material, but considering this film came out in 2000, and he has only done 'The Wannabes' in 2003, this film hasn't really advanced his career. Still, saying that, 'The Wog Boy' is above average, yet quite forgettable.

*** out of *****!

I didn't know what I was expecting out of this movie at all. Only seeing the trailer on TV a billion times was what took me to see it. The movie was an absolute riot of Australian and Italian humor. I understood the movie all the way and even the Italian jokes. I really enjoyed this movie and the 'Boy meets Girl' plot was typical but very funny to watch. I congratulate the cast and crew on a worthwhile Aussie comedy hit. The best since 'The Castle'. 10/10!!