Down Under

source: Down Under

I think that the writer didn't get intimate with the area, Cronulla. He could've actually studied both suburbs and its inhabitants to get a more true portrayal of the area and the situation. How do you produce a movie about Lebanese and Muslim community and not have even 1 Lebanese,Arabic speaking Muslim. I couldn't recognise any of the arabic spoken and never in my life have i heard the call to prayer in that matter. As for the portrayal of the anglo Australians... their representation is even worse... the film had no story line or point. Do not watch it. Save yourself the hour.

My hopes are never that high when it comes to Aussie film (despite being an Australian myself), but this blew my family and I out of the water. We were laughing all the way through, connecting with the characters (despite their very obvious flaws), and oddly surprised by the high production values. Acting was on-point and convincing. The characters seemed like real people, as stupid as some of them may be. By the end, the characters were humanised enough for us that we wanted NO ONE to get hurt (even those that may have deserved it) and whenever a hit landed, we felt it. The missing star for me would maybe come from a lake of clarity for what the film stood for other than 'hate and prejudice is bad'. Maybe lacking a bit of nuance in that department. After watching this film I immediately searched for ways that I could support it and the filmmaker, having only heard about it a few years after it's release (due to the streaming service Stan) - my mission begins with this review. I was honestly surprised at the relatively low reviews for this film as it set the bar for my family and I for modern Australian comedy film. Everyone involved kudos and KEEP DOING WHAT YOU LOVE - because I love it.

Hilarious. Coming from the Bankstown area and commonly around the Shire this is incredibly accurate.

After watching Abe Forsythe's wonderfully entertaining zombie comedy Little Monsters I was curious to see what else he'd down, which lead me to Down Under, a movie that looks for the lighter side of race riots. Based on a true incident in Australia, this movie follows two groups of Australian citizens, one white, one of Lebanese decent, who decide to go out and fight in an ongoing skirmish. The groups are rather similar in that each is a bunch of hotheads and one guy who unwillingly gets dragged into the action. I only watched about a third of this short movie, and just didn't find it that funny. In part that may be because the Australian accents caused me to miss some jokes, but I also just felt the humor seemed obvious and lacked cleverness, or even clever stupidity of the (Dude Where's My Car variety). Not saying it was terrible, but it just didn't work for me.

I've been waiting to see this for years to see why people are so angry and I'm. It disappointed. It displays the idiocy of both irrational and angry nationalist Aussies and Mediterraneans alike. It's no surprised everyone was offended. There's no secrets about the fragility of the human ego, social media is rife with triggered hypocrites these days, but Down Under takes us back to a time before Facebook and Twitter and shows us that nothing really has changed. In 2005 my country and it's people were embarrassed by the minorities. No not the "minorities" as in a marginalised community, I mean the few of the people who acted like dogs in Cronulla in those days and tried to carry on the violent nonsense with no clear goal or plan in mind Definitely worth a watch but don't go getting your undies all twisted up in your ego and taking it personally if you're white Aussie or middle eastern, it only represents you if you identify with the characters and if that's the case then you deserve to be embarrassed anyway, and should be.

This movie had lots of raving reviews from critics but I can't add to that list I'm afraid. I love independent Aussie films but this one won't be in the "must see Australian films" lists of most people although it's documenting an important event, the Cronulla riots of 2005. The comedy here is just too stupid, purposefully or not, the characters are nearly all unlikeable and the story too farfetched to bring a smile to this face. It reminded me of "Housos" which was turned into a movie: fun for 5 minutes then it got old real quickly. The acting is ok I suppose.

Screens Australia actually supported this financially ,Abe Forsythe from my understanding you are a promising writer but this film really saddened me . It appears you have to do maybe a lot more research on the subject ,the people and the impact of what happened there . Sorry Abe to come down on your attempt ,but with many friends in the writing game we all agreed it just sucked on so many levels. Good luck on the next one ,

The most discussing film I have ever watched. No storyline to acknowledge or follow. Makes Australians look Deranged. Poor Acting, production coordination . Scenes go all over the place. Perhaps aimed at the Drug community only, but not for any other. Very disappointed that Screen Australia would waste our Taxpayer funds to support this "what ever you could call it". Deceitful promotion about what to expect prior to watching.

When I heard that Abe had made a comedy about the Cronulla riots I was already laughing just from the concept, I was ready to tell all my mates to check it out before ever pressing play.... Sadly when I did press play that is when the laughing ended. At first I was expecting a slapstick/goofball comedy like Ned which was hilarious, that wasn't happening so I thought "Ok I guess it is a dark comedy, no problem". By 15 minutes in I was thinking "is this actually suppose to be funny at all?". This film was terrible and boring as hell, story was sloppy and it came to a pretty stupid ending. I really don't get my hopes up for too many films these days but when you know a writer/director has talent you kind of do get your hopes up and to see the serve you dog feces is pretty disappointing. My honest advice with this film is just don't bother, it is a waste of an hour. If you want a laugh just watch his first film "Ned".