Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

"Danny Deckchair" is a film inspired by a strange guy in the States who rigged up a chair with helium-filled balloons--and he took a trip that ended up getting him publicity AND in trouble with the authorities for unauthorized use of the airspace! Will things end up better for Danny in this romantic film?When the film begins, Danny is a likable doofus. He is a bit of a hippie and free spirit and is quite content with his life in the Sydney suburbs. However, it's obvious to the viewer that Danny's girlfriend Trudy is NOT particularly happy with him and she's looking for something more in her life. In the midst of this, on a lark, Danny the doofus comes up with a silly idea--to see what will happen when he rigs up a lawn chair with balloons just to see if he really will be able to take flight. He and his friends are surprised and soon he's flying high over the city. But his flight is not a brief one and he ends up towards the interior of Australia- -in the small town of Clarence (about 2 hours from Sydney by car).He lands in Clarence because his balloon is accidentally struck by fireworks. He nearly is killed and lands right in front of a nice lady, Glenda. Glenda, in a panic, tells everyone that this man, Danny, is a professor...her old lover from her college days. Well, at first folks have a hard time believing this, as Glenda is a bit of a spinster. But Danny goes along with this and soon both she and Danny come to like their little ruse...and so does the community, which accepts Danny like one of their own.This ruse cannot go one forever. The news media has gone Danny Deckchair crazy and they talk about it non-stop on the television. There also are some complications, as Trudy now is having an affair with a TV newsman and Danny is soon in love with Glenda. What's next? See this cute film."Danny Deckchair" is a lovely romantic film. Most of it is because you really like the characters. They are well written and 'normal'. In other words, instead of the usual Hollywood style romance, the leads are pretty but they are more like real folks. Well made, cute and worth seeing.

One of the most agonizing script-writing shortcuts is to have a character go 180 degrees from one scene to the next, in one moment being full of love and affection and understanding, and then for whatever reason refusing to talk to the main character, rushing out rudely and refusing any explanation from the main character, in the most unreasonable way. You're not supposed to wonder why this person would do this, you're just supposed to feel the hurt and rejection. If you like these kinds of scenes, buy this movie. Everything about this movie is predictable, tries to be deep and meaningful, and proceeds on the assumption that you've never seen a movie before. An utter failure.

I really enjoyed this movie. It is quirky and funny, it has sympathetic characters. I like Rys Ifans, I became a fan with his role as the flat mate in 'Notting Hill.' But both my wife and I said, "It should have been called 'Larry Lawnchair.' What he sits in is definitely not a deck chair.Rhys Ifans is Danny Morgan, just your ordinary concrete worker who is anxious to take his 2 week holiday, so he and his girlfriend Trudy (Justine Clarke) can go on a camping trip. He and Trudy co-own a home, so they are virtually a married couple. But Trudy balks, she says her boss has to go out of town suddenly and she can't go. She convinces Danny instead to thrown a 'barbie' the long weekend for friends.Danny is an experimental sort, comes across a bunch of mis-printed large promotional balloons, and brings them home along with several pressure cylinders of helium. As the 'barbie' is in progress, he and his friends inflate the balloons and tie them to the lawn chair that Danny is sitting in. When the local favorite football team on TV score a point, the men cheer and in so doing release Danny's chair. He floats away, through downtown, and into a storm. No one knows what happens to him. And, that's when the movie really begins. It is a story of Danny re-discovering himself, and what he wants out of life. Miranda Otto is good as Glenda Lake. But I particularly liked Justine Clarke as the selfish girlfriend Trudy Dunphy, who has an eye for TV celebrity Rhys Muldoon who plays Sandy Upman.SPOILERS. It turns out Trudy was running around with Sandy behind |Danny's back, she was getting tired of his ordinariness. That is why she canceled out of the camping trip, to pursue Sandy. Danny ends up landing in the tree in Glenda's back yard, she takes him in, they fall for each other. Danny is eventually 'found', and returns to his home, but unhappy with his old life, parachutes into Glenda's yard, and as the movie ends we thing they will live happily ever after.

Danny Deckchair is wonderful!For no reason whatsoever I stopped & watched "Danny Deckchair." Watch out, because those are the films that will get you.Lo & behold, I discovered Danny Deckchair to be a little wonder from Down Under. It's uplifting, fun, funny, romantic and downright inspiring.It says, "if you're stuck in your situation you don't like you do not have to remain there. You can enact change and pretty much become whoever or whatever you want." Terrific lesson here. Granted, easier said than done - but definitely do-able.Wonderful lesson; and a charming and wonderful movie.BTW, Rhys Ifans is terrific as Danny! Ditto for Mirando Otto et al! And, Brooke Leal's song that closes out this charming romance, "What About You?" is ideal. Marvelously catchy song whose lyrics fit this film to a "T."