Five years ago, ‘A Few Best Men’ arrived on screens to howls
of outrage. Directed by ‘Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert’
helmer Stephan Elliot, it offered a myriad of puerile toilet humour for critics
to be appalled by. The bad publicity generated helped it make big box
office dollars as curious viewers wondered what the fuss was about. Now
comes the sequel ‘A Few Less Men’. Elliot has dropped out of directing duties
but this follow-up is still as juvenile as ever and sure to furrow even further
movie critics’ brows.
David (Xavier Samuel), Tom (Kris Marshall) and Graham (Kevin
Bishop) are life-long best friends. When a friend dies after they attend a
wedding, they fly home to give his body to his family. Their plane crash-lands
into the harsh outback, leaving the trio to think of ways to carry their
deceased friend home. With lost clothes, wayward animals and peculiar
people blocking their path, the lads despair at ever arriving at their
destination as events conspire against them.
‘A Few Less Men’ is the type of production movie critics
like to slam. Its plot is flimsy, its execution is terrible and the
acting mostly dire. But it wasn’t made for critics. It was made as a
potential money-making franchise. Crudity and innuendo have always been
popular with general audiences with the 70’s ‘Carry On’-style humour fully on
display. The script goes from one outlandish situation to another, full
of smutty laughs, truly awful dialogue and embarrassed performers.
The only saving grace is the cinematography which captures
the Australian landscape very well. ‘A Few Less Men’ is a gorgeous
looking movie, which makes it more tragic that so much money was wasted on a
mediocre screenplay. Sophisticated laughs seem old-hat in films these
days. It’s easier to indulge in gutter humour than sophisticated wit.
Xavier Samuel equips himself with some dignity in his role, providing some
sense of sanity in an insanely dire movie.
‘A Few Less Men’ presents a grotesque collage of lavatory
humour that would make the cast of ‘Are You Being Served?’ blush. As
usual, it will be a big hit based on its notoriety with the furrowed brow of
this movie critic dug deeper than the bottom of the barrel this one scrapes.
Movie Review Rating out of 10: 2
Movie Review by Patrick Moore
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Patrick Moore's Movie Review is an alternative look at movie
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