Kath & Kimderella: reviews

There are mixed reactions to the big screen Kath and Kim feature.

Here’s a selection of reviews thus far:

Urban Cinefile:
The sight of Kath, Kim and Sharon (played with puppy-like enthusiasm by the irrepressible Magda Szubanski) as they arrive at their Italian destination decked in Italian designer gear, is one to cherish. Rob Sitch is seriously good as the suave King Javier with the Cruella DeVil hair colouring and whose obsession with shoes plays out in fine form. Richard E. Grant is supremely funny as the poker-faced man behind the man behind the man on the throne. Movies, fairy tales, TV shows and musicals all get their fair share of satirical references, but the big laughs come from the delivery. There’s a funny bit involving Glenn Robbins who goes to the hypnotherapist to lose his fear of flying but finds a side-effect that involves taking off his clothes. Watch out for a surprise cameo by Barry Humphries as Dame Edna Everage. But the film belongs unequivocally to Turner and Riley, whose chemistry, comic timing and sheer bravado is highly contagious, leaving us uplifted and well satisfied by the outing.

The Age:
The production values are decent (Italian exteriors, Melbourne interiors), but several set-pieces, including a dance number choreographed to Wham and a sword fight between King Javier and Kath’s husband, suburban butcher Kel (Glenn Robbins), never take off because they feel physically constrained. The humour stems from the television show: the same verbal tics, catchphrases, garish bodies and tacky clothes. The debate about whether Riley and Turner exploit their working class characters or celebrate them needs to be replaced by one questioning whether they’re still interested in them. Little happens between Kath and Kim, and there’s no flight of creativity equal to the television series having Kylie Minogue play a grown version of Kim’s daughter, Epponnee Rae. There is screen time for Riley and Turner’s other regular characters, the affluent, squawking Prue and Trude, but why does a comedy need comic relief?

SBS:
All these comic assets, and style quirks, have been transposed into this new feature film spin-off, Kath and Kimderella, directed by Ted Emery. But the often savage sensibility of the TV show has been dialed down. The camp is no longer toxic, merely cute. As a movie experience, it’s a frantic, misshapen, distended thing, full of plot and ideas, fun and quite a few jokes (some of them very good). Shot in that timid style reserved for mainstream comedy – all wide shots and over-lit – it feels slow, slack and aimless and it seems to last forever. As the title suggests, the plot sets out to parody Cinderella, but this is a long way from a Mel Brooks genre send-up. Actually, it’s a send-up of those grandiose US network soaps, with their outrageous tangled narratives involving mistaken identity, secret wealth and dispossessed sons and daughters. Still, the plot means nothing. It’s simply a series of skits set in Italy with the old gang from the TV show and a few choice cameo characters with guest stars Richard E. Grant and Rob Sitch (who is very, very funny here playing an Italian prince in a wig bad enough to frighten small children and an accent so over the top it will live in infamy.)

2DAYFM:
If you loved the series and it’s lowest common denominator poke at little Aussie-isms featuring cheap wigs, cheap costuming and fabulously entertaining cheap story lines….. then you’re DEFINITELY going to love the fill-ums lowest common denominator poke at little Aussie-isms featuring cheap wigs, cheap costuming and fabulously entertaining cheap story lines shot on expensive film in expensive locations with very expensive technicolor post production and one expensive smoke ring special effect (and a cameo by Alex Perry…. now THAT’S expensive).

The fillum opens on Thursday.