Just perfect...

Good movie but grossly overrated

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Caught this film on TV the other night, since I'd never heard of it and the description looked interesting. It was released by UA so I thought it would be entertaining, since a major film company has some standards. Pete is a misfit who wears exactly the same facial expression throughout the entire film, while Rikki is an improbable combination of singer and geologist, the latter part of which comes in unusually handy halfway through the film. They drive into the outback in mom's old car and somehow become rich while Pete invents stuff and then his mates try to break him out of jail. It's as dull and uneven as it sounds. The songs are just okay. There is an attempt to liven things up with quirky characters but they never go anywhere. The great Bill Hunter is the only saving grace, at turns exasperated or scheming, and in the film's only truly hilarious scene, is driven to madness by a non-stop proselytizer as he angrily joins him in singing hymns. He looks like he's going to snap any second.

After Malcolm, that did set the bar pretty high, we drop back a bit with a less successful Aussie comedy, that still manages to be bloody entertaining, where again we are reminded with familiarity to who penned this. This film's good but just not as good as Malcolm was. Sister (Landis) and brother (Kearney) team, take off to the outback, as little brother, you could say, has got himself into a bit of trouble with authorities. Pete is an immature, inventive, and causes a lot of unnecessary trouble, and has anger issues to. He makes obscene phone calls to authorities, causes chain cop car collisions, etc, with his smart arse stunts, as posing as fictional character Evil Donald. He has a newspaper business, he operates from his car, his delivery of them in the form of paper gliders has to be seen. He has trouble with his folks, where really sister, Rikki, a budding singer/guitarist, is the only one who really understands him, where this getaway, is like a last resort, one outburst I'll never forget has Rikki walking off in a huff, after spouting "F off Peter". They make new friends, in the outback, while also getting wealthy as doing a bit of prospecting. Trouble finally catches up with Pete in the form of city cop, (Bill Hunter) who really has it for him, and that's after Pete really makes an arse of himself one night in town, in some drunken and disorderly behavior, racking up quite a fine. His behavior tends to be worrying, where you really don't want to see anything happen to this problematic guy. I really liked Landis's character in this. She reminded a lot of my own sister's character, where Rikki, is a character I think is afraid, of falling in love, while Kearney is so so as Pete. There are a lot of entertaining moments in this film, though I found the movie a little dry or sagging, and as a runner up to Malcolm, you could of down far worse. For lovers of Malcolm, and others, a different and original comedy.

Nothing much happens in Rikki and Pete, but this is not really a criticism. It's a character comedy and the time spent with the titular oddball brother and sister pair is not time wasted. Rikki is a bored researcher who wants to be a country music star and tries a few wacky stunts to get her second career going. Pete is a rather anti-social, housebound type with a real genius for creating fascinatingly useless, Rube Goldberg style devices. Watching these weird toys work is one of the genuine pleasures of this little movie. The style is intimate, with a lot of close shots of one of both of the sibs, and the setting is effectively littered and cluttered, as any world would be that had a mad little builder like Pete in it. There are few bright colors and no big message here as their odd little story lines play out, just a quite appealing portrait of a functional sibling relationship in a somewhat dysfunctional and frustrating life situation. Worth a look.

Shrewd and spunky geologist Rikky Menzies (a radiant and excellent performance by Nina Landis) aspires to be a country and western singer/songwriter. Rikky and her willful and mischievous mechanical genius brother Pete (a fine and likable portrayal by Stephen Kearney) decide to get away from their disapproving and overbearing wealthy father (a perfectly hateful Don Reid) and hit the road in search of a new life. The siblings wind up in a small remote rural community where they purchase a mine and start their own business. Director Nadia Tass and screenwriter David Parker concoct a disarmingly low-key and quirky charmer about living life the way you want to live it sans compromise that ambles along at a relaxed, yet steady pace, wins the viewer over with its amiably aimless tone and unpredictable rambling narrative, and offers a wondrous wealth of amusingly flaky incidental details (the babbling religious loony with the runaway car that goes only ten miles in hour in particular is a complete riot!). Landis and Kearney make for very appealing leads; they receive terrific support from Tetchie Agbayani as Rikky's sweet and perky girlfriend Flossie, Bill Hunter as vengeful ramrod police sergeant Whitstead, Bruno Lawrence as the hearty and rugged Sonny, Bruce Spence as the friendly Ben, Lewis Fitz-Gerald as smitten nerd Adam, and Peter Cummins as sleazy mine boss Delahunty. Moreover, Pete's wacky inventions are very cool, Nikky's songs are extremely catchy and tuneful winners, the outback scenery is often breathtaking, the characters are a colorful assortment of endearing oddballs, and the movie concludes on a lovely upbeat note. The bouncy and harmonic score by Brain Baker and Eddie Raynor further adds to the considerable irresistibly breezy'n'easy charm. Parker's sparkling picturesque cinematography delivers plenty of strikingly beautiful images. A thoroughly pleasant and satisfying delight.