Review: Welcome to Woop Woop

Jonathon Schaech is a small-time American hustler who escapes to the Australian outback when the fit hits the shans. He gets tangled up with a loopy chick (Susie Porter) who basically tricks him into staying with her in a weird, seemingly backwards small town of Woop Woop. The town is overseen by her big, burly father (Rod Taylor, in a rare appearance back home late in his career) who makes sure no one ever leaves Woop Woop, else they want to get shot. Maggie Kirkpatrick plays Porter’s flatulent, beer-swilling mother, Dee Smart and a blond Paul Mercurio play other locals, and an almost unrecognisable Richard Moir runs the local radio. Rachel Grifffiths plays Schaech’s girlfriend back in the States, where Tina Louise also has a cameo. Barry Humphries turns up in one scene as a grotesque character much closer to Sir Les than Dame Edna.

 

I wouldn’t want to suggest that the career of Stephan Elliott was completely ended by this 1997 dud (The international flop “Eye of the Beholder” was still to come), but there’s no doubt that the heights of “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” (not my favourite film personally, but a huge hit on all fronts) have never been even closely matched since. Is the film really that bad? Yes, it indeed is, it’s a major miscalculation, something that could very easily have been called “They’re a Crude Mob”.

 

Loosely based on a novel by Douglas Kennedy and scripted by Michael Thomas (“The Hunger”, “Backbeat”, and the wonderful “Ladyhawke”), this plays like a grotesque throwback to the grossly caricatured lows of Barry McKenzie, but filtered through Elliott’s dopey Hollywood musical sensibilities. Or to put it another way, it’s “Wake in Fright” done as a comedy with a song-and-dance bent. Yeah, Elliott actually thought this was a great idea. Unfortunately, he’s comedically tone-deaf and while Ted Kotcheff made valid and necessary points in his examination of boozy ‘ocker’ machismo in “Wake in Fright”, Elliott (who unlike Kotcheff, is actually Australian and should be ashamed), paints Outback Aussies as though they’re from another planet. His own people! He overdoes it so much that it doesn’t even work as a comedy, it’s just grotesque and off-putting. Cultural cringe? More like cultural vomit and defecation. It feels like a film that even in 1997 was two decades out of date to be suitable material. “The Castle” came out the same year and it had laughs and heart. This has Maggie Kirkpatrick farting and saying ‘Fuck me dead!’. In her first scene, no less. It’s just gross, and not remotely amusing, it’s unsuitable material for a comedy, at least one meant to be laughed at by Australians. It’s a fine line between making a point and pissing on your country and expecting us to laugh at it. Elliott has truly crossed that line. I reckon it proves far more damaging to the Aussie character than “Wake in Fright” (a film that was initially rejected by Aussies for perhaps making us see the dark side of out character at the time).

 

The only funny moment in the film comes when the bizarro ocker townsfolk start singing ‘I’m gonna wash that man right outta my hair’. It’s so silly and unlikely you just have to laugh. As for the rest…fuck it. Seriously, fuck this movie and fuck Stephan Elliott, too. Rod Taylor is perfectly ornery and intimidating and Susie Porter brings a lot of energy to her role (Her use of the term ‘Abo’ in 1997 was culturally unhelpful and a huge mistake by Elliott in my opinion). Ringer Jonathon Schaech is pretty bland in the lead and Dee Smart’s character is obvious from her first moment on screen. I’m guessing Elliott is a huge “Gilligan’s Island” fan because that’s clearly the only reason why Tina Louise (Ginger!) turns up in a useless cameo at the beginning. Meanwhile, Rachel Griffiths is pretty good at doing American accents, but she sure as shit wasn’t up to the task in 1997. Wow. So bad.

 

The cast try, Elliott tries way too hard. Elements of this aren’t without potential (I liked the local radio station), but Elliott takes things way beyond too far, kills it, runs over it, pisses on it, runs over it again and again. Then shits on it just ‘coz he can. It’s not abysmally done on a technical level, but it’s no surprise the film was rejected then forgotten. Pretty poor and not remotely helpful, culturally. Elliott likely disagrees with me, however, given he has a cameo as a ‘hoon’, where he yells out ‘Give her the pork sword!’. You’ve done such a great service to your country, Mr. Elliott. Bravo, you ignorant bogan!

 

Rating: D+