The Rage in Placid Lake Movie Review:


Synopsis:

Placid’s parents are useless hippies, and his graduation stunt – an act of revenge against the school he hates – has landed him in hospital for months. Chastened, he attempts to reinvent himself as an obedient corporate drone, a cross between Dale (How to Win Friends…) Carnegie and George W. Bush...but how long will this new, buttoned-down persona last? More importantly, will it alienate Gemma, his one true love?

What exactly are they putting in the alcohol for Australian comedy writers? Distilled satire? Here is another in a line of sharp, exuberant, sarcastic comedies from down under, and what a joy it is too.

Yes, The Rage in Placid Lake is yet another in a long line of teen comedies, but this is no sickly sweet boy meets girl smaltz fest. The movie follows Placid Lake, yes that is his name, who has been saddled with that bizarre name by his hippie parents, who are best described as being similar to Viz’s The Modern Parents.

Trouble starts for Placid when he starts school, and is made to wear a dress by his mum, who tells him not to worry as he is challenging their views of sexuality! Naturally this causes Placid to get regular beatings, to which his mum tells him to always find something positive, luckily he meets Gwen (Rose Byrne) who becomes his lifelong friend.

Rage is absolutely jam packed with superbly bizarre scenes, that will have you sore with laughter. For the first third of the movie the pace does not let up with one belter of a gag after another. Placid’s graduation movie really is an absolute laugh out loud classic! But these are not cheap knob gags a la American Pie, take the scene where he almost talks a girl into bed, although she thinks he’s a dick, just by talking to her, wonderfully clever and well written.

You would think there was little originality to be found in one of the most explored movie genres, but Rage goes entirely into new areas and inverts expectations of the genre with Placid reinventing himself as the apoetheois of what he was before by conning his way into a job at an insurance co. that generates much comical hilarity, while exploring his character.

This provides the core of the movie, as Placid tries to rail against his personality, by being ultra square, getting his hair cut like George W. Bush is another great touch, and boy do they play with him here, as he gets fasttracked for promotion and the continual duel between Placid and his nemesis Anton is hilarious.

Miranda Richardson and Garry Macdonald play Placid’s parents, and they turn in comical, but yet touching performances as Placid’s flaky parents. Rose Byrne as Placid’s best mate, maybe girlfriend, is the weakest part of the movie, but when everything else is so strong that’s not a major criticism.

Ben Lee, what a performance, he brilliantly conveys the confusion and absurdity of his character. He delivers great gobs of dialogue that many lesser actors would have buckled under with the comic timing, energy and subtlety required. A real showstopper of a performance, and must be seen to be believed.

Yes, the ending is a bit sweet in it’s resolution, it is a teen comedy after all. But how many are as blackly twisted as this?

Gary Gray

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