Criminal Ways

Hi! someone said non-australians wouldn't probably like it. maybe i have spent enough time in Australia but my boyfriend and I saw it up in Darwin and it was his first time in Australia. while it was not high brow intellectual humor, I thought it was hilarious and my boyfriend had a few chuckles as well. I thought it was silly and funny how it made fun of how a lot of kids stuff is really pretty dumb. At least that is how I felt when I was a kid and saw a clown or something (if I wasn't actually scared of the clown/mime, I felt them to be "talking" down to me). The Wiggles are big over here now and now I always think of this movie when I think of them although I believe this film was supposed to not have any sort of connection or reference to them.

This was a great idea. But the over the top characters and the 2nd half of the film where the hysterical Aurora steals the child is a case study of what is wrong with Australian film.

The idea of criminals becoming a hugely popular children's group is clever and could have played our really well if the comedy had come from the real conflicts and characters rather than resorting to a ridiculous subplot that looks completely tacked on.

It amazes me what gets made in this country.

'The Wannabes,' in my opinion was one of THE best comedies of 2003. It had me in stitches laughing for most of the movie. People are saying that 'The Wannabes' was a disappointment, well I say... they are totally wrong! I loved the movie. I highly recommend 'The Wannabes' but just a warning... don't take anyone under the age of 12. I saw it at 11, some parts were inappropriate for an 11 year old to see but overall, I enjoyed it. I give 'The Wannabes' 8.5 out of 10.

Why do I hate this film? Here we go. 1. It's supposed to be a comedy, but it raises a faint smile a maximum of THREE times. All other attempts at humour are failures, and really obvious failures. 2. It features Russell Dykstra, who was fantastic in Soft Fruit. Even in this crap, you can see that he's talented, but who is ever going to take him on after he's been tainted by this excrement? 3. It's sexist. 4. It's racist. 5. It's homophobic. 6. It relies on a "cute" kid, who delivers his lines with all the plausibility of a hatstand, and for some reason calls undies "jocks," though he's supposed to be Australian. 7. It sets out to satirise the Wiggles, but is so feeble that any Wiggles video would outdo it easily in the wit stakes. 8. It has a cameo by Bert Newton. 9. It has a cameo by Rove McManus. 10. Rove McManus! And there was no warning on the cover, or before the film.

Clever scripting, well crafted characters, side splitting humour & wonderful acting....you will find ABSOLUTELY NONE of those qualities within the pathetic & smutty film "THE WANNABES" !!

After the local success of his last film, "THE WOG BOY", comedian (?)Nick Giannopoulos has fallen into the trap of thinking his audience would swallow anything he made, and this poorly executed & terribly acted attempt at comedy is full of immature toilet humour and lame jokes that make you grit your teeth in pain.

The turgid script concerns a bunch of low brow criminals who enlist the aid of a third rate actor to create a Wiggles / Teletubbies type childrens act as a cover for a series of heists. The film just lurches from one painful scene to another as it sinks to the depths of boredom & stupidity, and I can see this film destined to end up in two places...(a) On the IMDB Bottom 100 film listing, and (b), In the $1.00 a week dump bin at your local video library.

Steer well clear of this giant lemon !!