Hating Alison Ashley

Review by Clint Morris

Delta Goodrem's movie debut was met with a wild reception at its premiere.

The audience cheered, laughed in hysterics, stomped their feet in the best bits, yahooed, wolf-whistled, and ultimately, clapped when the final credits rolled.

Mind you, half the audience was the cast of Hating Alison Ashley, so a true assessment of how much of an audience pleaser the film is - like an LP left in the car on a searing day - is slightly misshapen.

So the question remains, how much will one enjoy the film if they didn't have anything to do with it?

If you're fifteen or sixteen and drive your parents mad by blaring Delta's CD piercingly loud every night from your bedroom - you'll be in heaven. If you're a little older, you probably won't think the light shines from it as much as its target market.

Like a hungry chap dreaming of scoffing a flavoursome mozzarella-crammed pizza, it's an attractive package that unfortunately looks better than it essentially tastes.

Based on the popular Australian young peoples novel of the same name, Hating Alison Ashley tells of a histrionic, always ostensibly dejected year nine student named Erika Yurken (Saskia Burmeister), and her immediate dislike of the new girl, Alison Ashley (Delta Goodrem).

Erika, or 'Yuk' as she's contemptibly known, already has a screwed-up enough life, she believes - with a nutty family, an acting talent that no one recognises and a lack of friends - without the seemingly perfect Alison - with her long flowing blonde hair, golden smile and dazzling grades - entering her life.

It's on the year nine camp though that Yuk finally discovers her adversary isn't all she's cracked up to be, in fact, she - shock horror - might have troubles of her own.

It may be all-round superstar Delta Goodrem's that's getting the press, but this movie really belongs to Saskia Burmeister (interviewed here). The girl is a revelation in this film. In much the same way Pia Miranda did for Looking for Alibrandi, also based on a popular Australian novel, Burmeister [Ned Kelly, Thunderstruck] brings a whole chunk of earnestness, integrity and golly-gosh likeability to the role of the perpetually dejected hypochondriac.

You could say Burmeister's still way too pretty to be playing the role of a supposed scrubber, but without her, the movie would lose its finest asset. She's the needle to the record - for it to play, it needs this girl.

As for Ms Goodrem - it's evident early on that both her and Burmeister come from different schools of acting.

Whilst Delta's training on TV soapy Neighbours may have been a great launching pad (mainly into music) for the attractive media darling, one can argue that it ultimately hasn't done much for her acting proficiency. She's okay, and more than looks the part, but she's a little too stilted and blank to make any form of connection with the audience.

We should feel for her when she's crying, but well, we don't. The film really needed an actress to bring a bit more believability to the role - as it is, we're not seeing a character, we're seeing Delta Goodrem, and nothing more. In time, maybe she'll improve.

Much better are some of the supporting talent: The always underrated Craig McLachlan (he too comes from the world of soapies, but has managed, as Delta may in time, to stray from that overformal style of acting) gets to ham it up as the school's P.E teacher, whilst the always steady Jean Kittson is right at home in the role of the snotty year nine teacher.

Like a worn mélange, Hating Alison Ashley has its good patches and its dilapidated patches. The comedy is a little too palpable and passé (blame that on the source material) to really rouse one's funny bone, the line between the film's middle and last half is a little murky and needed a bit more work, and as aforementioned, it's hard to form much of an emotional connection between anyone other than Erica.

On the other hand, it's a real showcase for Saskia Burmeister, and a wonderful step back in the right direction for the Australian film industry. It's refreshing to find a local film that, for once, doesn't include stereotypical suburban gangsters or a fatigued plot, and instead unveils a tale still uniquely Australian without failing to alienate anyone that mightn't have been bought up or schooled in the same way as its central characters.

Granted, those in year nine will enjoy it the most - but it's still a unanimously likeable film for all ages. It's pretty darn hard to hate Alison Ashley, even harder not to love thanks to the actress behind her - Erica Yurken.

3 out of 5

Hating Alison Ashley
Australian release: Thursday 17th of March, 2005
Cast: Saskia Burmeister, Delta Goodrem, Jean Kittson, Craig McLachlan, Tracey Mann, Richard Carter, Damien Brodie, Rachael Carpani, Anthony Cleave.
Director: Geoff Bennett.
Interview: Click here.
Website: Click here.

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