Impulse Gamer Home


Two Little Boys Movie Review - www.impulsegamer.com -

Two Little Boys
  Reviewed by Andreas Wong on November 23rd, 2012
   Hopscotch
presents a film directed by Robert Sarkies
  
Screenplay by Duncan Sarkies and Robert Sarkies
   Starring:
Bret McKenzie and Hamish Blake
  
Running Time: 92 minutes
  
Rating: MA15+
  
Released:  November 15th, 2012


5/10

 


Robert Sarkies adapts his brother Duncan’s novel in his latest film, a black comedy about two mullet-sporting bogans who find their friendship put to the ultimate test after one of them kills a Norwegian backpacker named Juergen (Filip Berg) in a freak road accident. Nige (Bret McKenzie) and Deano (Hamish Blake) have been best friends since childhood. Their epic bromance began on Nige’s first day at his new school, when Deano let him sit next to him in class. Their bond extended long into adulthood, with Deano assuming the role of older brother to Nige. The two did everything together, including living together as flatmates, but in the process became unsettlingly overfamiliar. One day, Nige woke up to the sobering question of whether this is all there is to life. His concomitant crisis precipitated the breakdown of their friendship. Nige asserted independence by leaving Deano and moving in with a good-natured, obese Maori named Gav (Maaka Pohatu). After Juergen’s death, however, Nige is forced to seek Deano’s help in disposing of the corpse without Gav’s knowledge. Nige, Deano and Gav embark on a wincingly awkward road trip through the Catlins, where Deano’s possessiveness towards Nige reignites their former conflict. The trip becomes a painful but necessary journey for both of them.


Two Little Boys has all the makings of a classic New Zealand comedy but lacks the savage funniness. Fans of the nation’s particular brand of black humour, epitomised by films like Braindead (1992), Black Sheep (2006) and Eagle vs Shark (2007), will be sorely disappointed. Like many Kiwi comedies, the film sets ludicrously grisly scenarios against beautiful vistas, but it distinguishes itself by taking crudity to another level. It goes too far and becomes insufferable to watch. The film’s humour resembles a madly esoteric, jet-black and bogan-specific version of Stepbrothers’ (2008) man-child humour. Gags riff on random topics like corpse disposal, human dismemberment, Norwegian football, flatmate infidelity and murder conspiracy. The Sarkies brothers don’t channel their energy into one specific type of humour, but write individual jokes that hardly ever provoke laughter, only the audience’s exasperation. McKenzie and Blake both fail to amuse, though much of this could be attributed to the lines they were given. The film’s greatest problem is that it meanders wildly, drifting in and out of so many moods and ideas that the viewer is left perplexed as to how to respond. It is by turns an inaccessible black comedy, an absurd road movie and a disturbing drama about two oblivious bogans. It is a restless and shapeless mess.






 
 



   Games
   PlayStation 4
   XBox One
   PlayStation 3
   XBox 360
   PC
   PS Vita
   Wii U
   Wii
   3DS
   DS
   PSP
   Apple
   Casual
   Android
   Classics

  Movies
   Movies & IMAX
   Blu-ray
   Action
   Anime
   Comedy
   Crime & Thrillers
   Documentaries
   Drama
   Family
   Horror
   Kids
   Lifestyle
   Music
   Romance
   Sci-fi
   Sport

   IT
   PC
   Apple
   Hardware

   Information & Fun
   News
   Interviews
   Articles

   Tara's G-Spot
   Loren's Level
   Comics
   Books
   Mind & Body
   Music
   Competitions
   Community
 








 
 




Impulse Gamer is your source for the
latest Reviews and News on Video Games,
Entertainment, Pop Culture, Hardware &
More!

 


© 2001 - 2014 Impulse Gamer
 

 

About Us | Contact Us