Any Questions For Ben?
Review by David Woodward
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Any Questions For Ben?
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Although lumbered with the least catchy film title of all time, Any Questions for Ben?
is a cleverly crafted film that draws on the observations of Santo
Cilauro, Tom Gleisner and Rob Sitch (the Working Dog production team)
and their lives as part of the trendy professional set. The film
brings together hot young Aussie stars of the moment (Josh Lawson,
Rachael Taylor) in a "will-they or won’t-they?" romance sprinkled with
witty banter and light comic sequences. The storyline is filled
with trendy, high achieving and often funny twenty-something characters
who surround the 27 year old lead (Lawson) as he comes to realise that
he’s having a quarter-life crisis after flitting from girl to girl and
job to job. Mind you, it does take him over half of the film to
reach this conclusion – a situation that is obvious to the audience
much earlier in the piece. In fact, the first half of Any Questions for Ben?
could have benefitted from a little more work in the editing room to
trim some scenes and let others play out to capitalise on the chemistry
between Lawson, Henshall and Clark. Nevertheless, Josh Lawson is
very watchable and his comic delivery of lines is well used throughout.
Rachael Taylor plays the object of Lawson's slow-burning affections and
is particularly impressive in her role. Coupled with her other recent
film work (particularly Red Dog), she deserves her time in the limelight. Christian Clark and Daniel Hensall as Lawson’s mates also do a good job. Like The Cup before it, Any Questions for Ben?
makes the most of familiar actors from the present appearing in small
but noticeable support roles (including Alan Brough who gives an
effective, low-key performance and John Howard playing a priest) as
well as using veteran Aussies like Tracy Mann as Lawson’s
mother. The film’s director/writer Rob Sitch also makes a welcome return in front of the camera as a comical school principal. The
sights and sounds of Melbourne feature heavily throughout the movie
with much of the nightscape footage giving the city a real New York
look. Perhaps this aspect is overdone somewhat, but it's balanced by
other brief on-location scenes set in New Zealand and the Middle East. Riding on the back of what appears to be a resurrection of the local film industry, Any Questions for Ben? will probably attract audiences who remember Working Dog’s past film successes (The Castle, The Dish) and younger viewers who enjoy a good romantic comedy. 3 out
of 5
War Horse
Australian release: 9th February,
2012
Official
Site: Any Questions For Ben?
Cast: Josh Lawson, Rachael Taylor, Daniel Henshall, Felicity Ward, Christian Clark, Jodi Gordon
Director: Rob Sitch
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