Anthony Simcoe, Stephen Curry, Michael Caton and Anne Tenney in "The Castle."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, we give this film an: Stars: Michael Caton, Anne Tenney, Stephen Curry and Sophie Lee Director: Rob Sitch Rated: R, for language Length: 85 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Andy Seiler
Gannett News Service

(Aug. 6, 1999) -- A triumph of sustained silliness, The Castle is a modest comedy about a tow-truck driver who fights the system to save his family's home. The Australian government and a major corporation want the property in order to expand the Melbourne airport.

But the Kerrigans want it even more.

All of the comedy arises out of the huge disparity between what narrator Dale Kerrigan (Stephen Curry) -- the youngest son of truck driver Darryl (Michael Caton) -- tells us and what we actually see onscreen. For example, the house is a tacky disaster -- but to the Kerrigans, it really is a castle. And it isn't just next to the airport, it's practically on the runway. Why live there?

"Location, location, location," Dale explains. You see, it is very convenient for the family members -- if any of them ever needed to fly anywhere.

The Kerrigans clearly are meant to be a typical working-class Australian family, despite their five cars, litter of racing greyhounds and two houses. Yet they are all borderline simpletons, the Aussie equivalent of the Beverly Hillbillies. A family member buys a Rolex watch and knows it is authentic because it cost $15.

"Dad reckoned there was only one show funnier than Funniest Home Videos," Dale tells us. "And that was Best of Funniest Home Videos."

Director Rob Sitch and his screenwriters (a team of popular TV performers in Australia) have mastered a tone somewhere between ridicule and affection. How else to explain that this was the No. 1 homegrown movie in Australia in 1997? (Miramax bought this very low-budget film more than a year ago at the Sundance Festival for $7 million. But it took so long to open in the United States because the studio had a new musical score recorded and, reportedly, had the actors re-do much of their dialogue for greater comprehensibility.)

The result is very accessible and very funny. At one point, the Kerrigans' neighbor, a Lebanese immigrant, learns how little his house is worth.

"Plane fly overhead, drop value," he explains.

But he adds: "I don't care. In Beirut, plane fly overhead, drop bomb."