Customer Reviews

Strange Bedfellows

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS is one of those films that plays like a TV sitcom without the canned laughter - especially now that gay themed shows have made it big on television. This film's main charm is its Aussie flavor and that forgives a lot of the shortcomings of a fluffy idea of a script.

Essentially, two men (Paul Hogan and Michael Caton) decide to avoid back taxes and take advantage of a new law that allows same sex partners to gain the rights of married couples by passing as a gay married couple. How they go about convincing each other that they can pass as gay in order to convince the authorities and then how they can learn to act gay and live a gay life to back up their story is the action of the movie. Many stereotypes are included but somehow the Aussies know how to pull this off with minimal offense.

The overall theme, after the story is all said and done, is one of tolerance and compassion for people who are in different societal climes. Hogan and Caton pull this off well, showing how really everyone they meet in their charade is just a 'regular guy' - and for that reason the film becomes more tolerable than the usual farces that deal with 'passing'. Not a great movie, but one with a wink! Grady Harp, September 05

Strange Bedfellows is a lot like the full monty. It's a quaint Australian movie that will leave you with a smile. Ot's funny (not hillarious) A good movie.

If Australian viewers will cast their minds back to the seventies, they may remember The Paul Hogan Show, a variety show in which Paul irreverently played the larrikin host. The twist was that he would make a grand entrance wearing tight fitting black shorts and a rugby top - a caricature of a footballer.

In Strange Bedfellows almost thirty years later, he cleverly parodies this costume by dressing up in close hugging spandex shorts and a black figure hugging tank top. Paul is probably having a good old chuckle at himself, and we are too, because there's generally lot of laughs to be had in this irreverent, and funny, but never offensive Australian film.

This is the best film that Paul Hogan has made in years. He doesn't over-play it, he's instantly amiable and most of all, he's giving life to a character that fits him like a glove. But kudos should also be given to the talented Michael Caton, who at times, gently steals the movie from beneath Hogan's feet.

Hogan plays Vince, a theatre owner in the small Victorian country town of Yackandandah. Vince's wife has recently left him and now he's left with nothing, apart from the single-bed he sleeps on in the projection booth. When he gets a letter from his ex-wife's accountant ordering he pay back years of back taxes, he turns to his best friend Ralph (Michael Caton), the town mechanic, for help.

Vince has just read that the current government, in a race for electoral votes, is giving gay couples the same legal rights as married couples including a retrospective tax law that allows them to claim all the usual tax rebates for up to five years. Vince decides the best thing to do is become gay - at least on paper.

Ralph is initially hesitant, but once Vince explains to him that it's just form filling bureaucracy, and that no one in the small town need ever know, he decides to help his best friend out. Things seem to be going well, until a letter arrives stating that a representative of the tax office is coming to visit, in order to make sure Vince and Ralf really are a same-sex couple.

Vince and Ralf are forced to embark on a crash course in learning how to be gay. Enlisting the help of the local gay hairdresser, (Glynn Nicholas) they learn how to "place a hand on a penguin," wax lyrical over a photograph of Liberace and call each other "she" and "girl." They even take a trip to Sydney where they befriend a group of biker gays and drag queens.

When the reserved and seemingly threatening tax inspector (Pete Postlethwaite) is sent to audit their claim, Ralph and Vince must try and convince him that they are a loving homosexual couple in a small town who knows them as anything but. Adding to the shenanigans is Ralf's daughter (Kestie Morassi), who is coming up to stay from Melbourne; she's devoted to Ralf, and has a surprise in store for him.

What makes Strange Bedfellows work so well is the amazing script that never condescends to either the urban gay community or the country people of Yackandandah. Judgment is never passed, even though the rural folk might see the gays as "weird," while the gays might view the country people as homophobic. Stereotypes abound, but the tone of the film is such that one cannot take any of them seriously.

Paul Hogan as Vince seems to be having a great old time; he's empathetic to the gay community, and seems to be opening his heart to a segment of society that he knows nothing about, while Michael Caton delivers a wonderfully warm character with enough complexity and self-contradiction to be three-dimensional.

Detailed, effectively paced, Strange Bedfellows is crammed with characters you'll feel are old mates by the time the credits roll, but best of all, Strange Bedfellows is a terrific plea for tolerance and equality for the gay community, along with a kind of homage to the age old Australian tradition of mateship. Mike Leonard September 05.

I enjoyed this "Aussie" comedy as one of a few movies I watched on a flight to Australia. If you like good humor with a gay twist, you'll like this movie--two guys pretending to be a couple to help out in a sticky situation. The story is outrageous and funny, with a nice twist at the end.

This is a very funny movie from my own home country. It has alot of the greatest Aussie movie stars in it and is a harilous movie to watch for anyone who loves Gay Humor.

Paul Hogan plays a man who wants to get out of paying tax so he pretends to be a gay couple with his best friend to get out of paying it and has to learn to become gay when they about to be interviewed to see if they are just 'playing around'.

Its a fantastic movie and I highly recommended it, even if not to buy then to rent. Its a must see.

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS is a somewhat lighthearted examination of relationships, perceptions and masculine bonding. In an attempt to avoid bankruptcy, Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee himself) convinces his lifelong friend (a superb Michael Caton) to pose as his life partner to capitalize on a new tax law supporting gay couples. Of course, there is the expected coaching from the local male hairdresser (who is really straight but fakes his homosexuality because it's expected); a trip to a gay bar in Syndey where they bond with a collection of "fops"; and the showdown at the big local dance. The movie is to be admired for its refusal to fall into the general stereotypical emotions about homsexuals, and for its sensitivity to relationships in general. It's not riotously funny, but is mildly amusing. Hogan seems a little too removed from the film to be effective, but Caton and the other supporting players (including Pete Postelthwaite as the investigator) are charming.

I saw this on cable before I bought it & knew I had to have it! It's funny & relevant. Strange Bedfellows
A divorced man wants a tax break, newly introduced in Australia for gay partners.His widowed best friend goes along with it & hilarity ensues!

The subject of "Strange bedfellows" is nothing new - two straight men decide to pretend they are gays. We could see it in "Boat trip" for example.
Nevertheless, there are two main differences: the background of the story and our main characters. Because of them, the plot isn't so corny and repetetive.
The action takes place in rural Australia and our heros are in their 60's - the latter should be a clear message to those, who look for fresh bodies and some bare skin action.
I am pretty sure that for some this film isn't so amusing, but I enjoyed it very much. The way it presents intolerance against homosexuality, typical for small comunities and older generations is true to form, thus funny at some moments, sad at other.
In general it's a well made movie, with good acting and direction. Of course it has its place in my dvdteque :)

This was one of the best laughing movies i have seen in ages!!! AND great shipping!

The remake ( I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry) was a copy of this. Maybe I am biased being an Aussie, but this film is much better than the copy. OK...so you Yanks don't always understand the Aussie sense of humour. I love it....