New
Zealand cinema has been serving up a steady stream of comedy gold over the last few
years. Australia, on the other hand, has been serving up Shane Jacobson. The Kiwi secret? Putting funny people into stories that let them actually be funny - and
this bubbly film about a dynamic duo making their living helping people escape
(or destroy) their relationships is no exception.
Mel (Madeleine Sami) and Jen (Jackie van
Beek) – the duo also wrote the script and direct – break up relationships any
way they can; fake deaths, bad songs, bogus romances, fake forest searches for not-so-missing people, you name it. Their only
rule is to not get attached to their clients, which usually isn't a problem: they're either grief-stricken, losers, or creeps. But then charming
yet dim 18 year-old rugby player Jordan (James Rolleston) turns up wanting to shake off his, uh, "strong-willed" missus Sepa (Ana Scotney) and it's on for young (him) and old (Mel).
Meanwhile
Jen is “enjoying” loveless flings
(a hilarious cameo from Jemaine Clement) and doing lines of coke at grim
family dinners. As the more positive-minded Mel starts to wonder if trashing relationships is
really how they should be spending their lives a rift gradually builds
between the best
friends - and having a former victim of their services
(Celia Pacquola) hanging around thinking
they’re real police officers doesn’t help.
This is
basically a collection
of comedy bits loosely tied together, and at barely 80 rapid-fire
minutes it definitely doesn’t outstay its welcome. Those comedy bits are
good at worst and brilliant at best - an extended sequence where they
end up at a real police station in their fake cop uniforms is a great
example of building gags upon gags until the whole thing reaches a
perfectly reasonable yet totally absurd conclusion, while even the dance
numbers manage to be funny as much as they are toe-tapping
It's
the cast that's this film's real strength. The supporting performances
are perfect - both Rolleston and Scotney do wonders with characters that
initially seem like little more than single joke ideas - while the real
chemistry on display here is the bond between Sami and van Beek. Having
a palpable connection between the duo sells the sillier stuff as just
mates having a good time while also making their character's somewhat
sketchy career choice seem like, well, just mates having a good time.
And when the characters on screen are enjoying themselves in a comedy,
it's infectious.
- Anthony Morris
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