This Australian (semi) comedy drama is from the same people who made and produced the lively and charming 'Malcolm'. However, this is about a shy teenage lad who gets given his father's old and much loved family saloon, as his first car.
That, though, has no girl-pulling power whatsoever and as Danny (Ben Mendelsohn) has set his sights firmly on the lovely Joanna (Claudia Karvan) and since Danny's always loved and dreamed of Jaguars, he forges his Dad's signature and trades in the beloved Nissan 'Cedric'.
The lovely Jag he buys from smarmy sales proprietor Gordon Farkas (Steve Bisley) blows a push-rod on its maiden journey, on his first date with Joanna. Faced with the humiliation of getting her covered in oil, he's yet to tell his father of the bad deed, let alone will ever be likely to repay the huge repayments, now on a car that's going to cost a fortune to repair.
This is where the story takes off, or would if it had the horsepower of a Jaguar, rather than the poodling pedestrian pace that Cedric might muster. It's obviously meant to be rather a gentle and slight movie but the charm that is promised never materialises, maybe because most of the characters are not really very nice but then again, not overly villainous enough.
It does offer, in an (older) family orientated flick a peek into the pains of adolescents but even Mendelsohn, as Danny cannot muster the enthusiasm and charisma that his role requires. An alternative that immediately springs to mind would be Michael J Fox and that would raise the bar a lot but stretching the flimsy premise to over 95 minutes is pushing it. There is some mileage in the car-seller's dubious nocturnal habits as Danny and his friends find new ways to humiliate and embarrass the preening, self-promoting Farkas.
Maybe if it had been made to cater for an adult audience, it could have been far more edgy and risqué. But overall it's just an old under- powered Nissan of a film, when it's screaming to be an XJS.
Jaguar lovers may get a bit more out of it but my copy, that is part of the 12 disc 'Australian Cinema Collection' is very unlikely to get played again.
That, though, has no girl-pulling power whatsoever and as Danny (Ben Mendelsohn) has set his sights firmly on the lovely Joanna (Claudia Karvan) and since Danny's always loved and dreamed of Jaguars, he forges his Dad's signature and trades in the beloved Nissan 'Cedric'.
The lovely Jag he buys from smarmy sales proprietor Gordon Farkas (Steve Bisley) blows a push-rod on its maiden journey, on his first date with Joanna. Faced with the humiliation of getting her covered in oil, he's yet to tell his father of the bad deed, let alone will ever be likely to repay the huge repayments, now on a car that's going to cost a fortune to repair.
This is where the story takes off, or would if it had the horsepower of a Jaguar, rather than the poodling pedestrian pace that Cedric might muster. It's obviously meant to be rather a gentle and slight movie but the charm that is promised never materialises, maybe because most of the characters are not really very nice but then again, not overly villainous enough.
It does offer, in an (older) family orientated flick a peek into the pains of adolescents but even Mendelsohn, as Danny cannot muster the enthusiasm and charisma that his role requires. An alternative that immediately springs to mind would be Michael J Fox and that would raise the bar a lot but stretching the flimsy premise to over 95 minutes is pushing it. There is some mileage in the car-seller's dubious nocturnal habits as Danny and his friends find new ways to humiliate and embarrass the preening, self-promoting Farkas.
Maybe if it had been made to cater for an adult audience, it could have been far more edgy and risqué. But overall it's just an old under- powered Nissan of a film, when it's screaming to be an XJS.
Jaguar lovers may get a bit more out of it but my copy, that is part of the 12 disc 'Australian Cinema Collection' is very unlikely to get played again.