Straight to the pool room!

Deep from the dungeon of cult classics comes The Castle, directed by Rob Sitch. From the title alone, one would not know what to expect, but the least of these expectations would be one of the most underrated and unknown comedies of all time.

The plot of the film follows Dale Kerrigan and his family. They live in a humble home in suburban Australia, happy and under the belief that “a man’s home is his castle”, the fact that it’s five minutes from the airport does not factor into it. Besides, “it will be very convenient if we ever have to fly one day”. However, all is not well in the Kerrigan household, as they are soon informed that their house is being demolished to extend the runway for the airport, and they will have to leave. Dale’s father, Darryl, who won’t have any of this, asks his budding lawyer and friend (whom has no knowledge on property rights nor constitutional law) to help him with this matter.

As one could plainly see, the story of The Castle is not Shakespeare, but the story is the most minute part of the whole affair. No, where The Castle really stands on its toes is the development and use of the characters in the film. Each character has his or her own well thought out personality and their own little running jokes. From Dale, whose interests include digging holes, his brother, Steve, the ideas man, who is always looking for a bargain in the local trading post, or their father, Darryl, who raises and races greyhounds.

The other strongest point of the film is, of course, the humour itself. Drawn from the characters’ personalities, the humour ranges from flat out obvious to exceptionally subtle. The kind of film that benefits from repeat viewings, The Castle is overflowing with jokes of many different types, a number of which you will probably miss the first time around. Full of one-liners and jokes that play on the stupidity of the characters, this is the kind of movie that you will be quoting for years. The humour may not be for everyone, however, as many of the jokes will fly over the heads of those not at least slightly familiar with Australian humour.

The film is well acted all around. It is never too exaggerated or underplayed, merely providing a believable experience and immersing the viewer into the film, leading them to believe that the characters are 3-dimensional and real, to a certain degree.

This level of acting also compliments the character-driven nature of the film. The acting helps make the characters’ unusual and sometimes farfetched personalities seem more believable, and more entertaining because of this. The Castle also boasts Eric Bana’s first acting job in a film, and while he plays a very minor role, an accountant-come-kickboxer, his character, Con, is memorable and funny nonetheless.

All in all, The Castle is an engaging, hilarious and memorable experience, and while it may not appeal to those who are looking for a serious, story driven film, nor those who don’t ‘get’ the humour, for those who endeavour to watch the film, this castle will not hold any scary surprises within. If you consider yourself a fan of comedies and have not already seen The Castle, your life is incomplete.