Billy's Holiday

I watched it on TV out of curiosity. How (and why?) could anybody make a movie about a white, paunchy, middle-aged, heterosexual, father named Billy in Australia who suddenly gains the ability to sing in the same high pitched voice and style as Billie Holiday from old Harlem, USA on the other side of the earth? Truly antipodal! The movie contains several entertaining musical numbers in swing style with dancing. The female characters seem more masculine than the men and the story seems to be about Billy becoming a better, happier person by accessing his "feminine side". I'm still not sure whose voice was used for the singing. I'm guessing it was, in fact, the lead actor's, Max Cullen which would be astonishing.

It IS true: the voice heard on screen IS that of Max Cullen. The whole point to making this film is genuinely, that the producers found out that middle aged Australian koala Max Cullen could actually sing exactly like Billie Holiday. Therein lies the problem. How do you prove this? because, as other overseas comments on this site ask, is it really him singing; well it is....but so what? it it might just as well not be; it might just as well actually be Billie Holiday recordings all mimed. But it isn't. As a result there is now this curious movie that lacks the wow factor of seeing Max sing live in Billie's voice. It just doesn't make sense to make a film where the really really special thing about an actor's singing performance is not able to be convincing to a movie audience. BILLY'S HOLIDAY came out after Strictly Ballroom and Priscilla and Muriel's Wedding so I guess one musical too many and hence a flop. It really did not do any business...then LITTLE VOICE came along and managed to successfully do the same thing for Jane Horrocks, who like Max can sing in the identical voice to a famous diva like Garland and Dietrich, but in that film, was completely convincing. The BILLY musical numbers really harked back to STARSTRUCK from 1982 which was a big musical film hit. Sadly BILLY didn't advance the medium or the style and died the death of Billie herself at the box office.

... unfortunately, there is little else for which to make this film a truly worthwhile expenditure of 92 minutes of your life, let alone a worthwhile cinematic experience. I suppose that Max Cullen's talent for jazz diva vocal mimicry is somewhat noteworthy. After all, it was by most accounts the reason this film was even made. However, when you throw in a rather haphazardly scripted story about an incredibly improbable scenario, all the vocal mimic heroics, big band swing numbers, and slick choreography can't transform the sideshow into the musical that it endeavors to be. I give this movie 2 stars, one for the excellent swing music that prevails throughout the motion picture and one for Max Cullen's freaky vocals.

Max Cullen must've been a trumpet player at some stage of his career. In Episode 414 of Homicide (an Australian Crime Drama) - filmed in 1973 - Max plays Trumpet on stage in this episode called 12 Bar Blues.

This is a unique and totally fun movie made by the folks who created Strictly Ballroom. Great swing music, especially the sounds of Billie Holiday and Australian jazz trumpet great James Morrison, pulls the viewer into a pastel-colored fantasy world that is irresistibly uplifting. The film is able to generate a sense of child-like wonder and positivity that touches the heart without being manipulative, no small accomplishment. It is not known who actually sings in the Billie Holiday voice, or if the lead is simply lip-synching, but the resemblance to the real thing is uncanny. The opening scene on the bus is a treasure.