Saturday, August 24, 2024

Movie review - "Horseplay" (2003) **

 Good on the filmmakers for taking a bold swing - this is  a farce about dodgy types in the racing industry. If it doesn't quite work they gave it a shot.

Marcus Graham isn't perhaps entirely well cast as a horse trainer who marries the daughter (Tushka Bergen) of a successful trainer (Bill Hunter) but cheats on her with his ex (Natalie Mendoza). He's short of money so he decides to arrange for the wife of a jockey to be kidnapped so he can fix a race.

I know there's a debate over how likeable characters need to be - but they definitely need to be watchable, and it's hard to watch Graham do this, especially as he's doing it just ebcause he's bad with money.

Some of it is a little ahem questionable such as Alyssa McLelland having to gyrate in a bikini and talk about the joys of sex with middle aged men.

Some of the acting is very good - Abbie Cornish, Damien Richardson. I think Marcus Graham is not quite right - Jason Donovan (very animated as Graham's sleazy mate) would've been better.

The film makes some simple errors - like it's got too many blonde women (McClelland, Bergen, Krista Vendy, McClelland's friends) so I got them mixed up. I struggled to tell the difference between the wacky hitman too.

Some critics said there were too many characters - I don't think that's the problem, I just think they needed stronger motivations. For instance I'd have Graham need the money because someone wanted to kill him not just because he's lazy. The film could have used its violence more - it's rather coy on that.

Give Tuska Bergen a moivation. Like what does she want? To rip off her dad? To arrange for Graham to be killed? Marc Owen Taylor is her ex who wants her back but... spends most of the time dancing? As does Donovan's ex and Bergen and then Dichardson and Morales.

Some scenes are mean like McClelland's parents finding her dead and Bergen seeing her father be killed.

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