Wonderfully offbeat film!

Admirable film.

A Masterpiece!

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

For some reason this show is called Dreamland on Netflix. Very funny comedy. Few shows these days can elicit a chuckle or a smile much less laughing out loud but this one made me laugh. For people who never worked in a corporate environment may think these comedic situations outlandish, but I can tell you they are much more common than one would think. All the bureaucracies, corruption, incompetence, frustrations, wastefulness of a corporation or any large organization are brought to the screen in a funny way and they managed it without making it slapstick. The pacing is well done, and the characters are relatable.Very well done and I highly recommend it.

It is surprising that the Australian government allowed the Working Dog team to film in a department headquarters for so long and obtain such candid reactions from their staff. The small group of employees are responsible for developing nationally significant infrastructure (a.k.a. "nation-building"). Clearly, most government departments work the same way as this department reminded me so much of the one in which I used to work. Logical decisions are constantly over-ridden by politics. Long-term planning is defeated by short-term political imperatives. Media advisers outrank experts in the field. The main purpose of the department is smothered by peripheral workplace issues such as occupational health and safety, IT upgrades and social events. The second series is a great improvement on the first. Perhaps the employees were a little nervous in front of cameras for the first time but, in the second series, their true characters are much better defined. All these people would make excellent actors if they ever wanted to give up working for the public service. Kitty Flanagan would certainly make a great stand-up comedian. Some of the projects proposed are very exciting. I am looking forward to the unveiling of the solar-powered train. Also, now that Stage 2 has been "launched", I can't wait for Stage 3, hoping then to have some idea what it is! This is among the best pieces of writing that Australian television has produced.

There's been a glut of the mockumentary civil service comedy of errors shows in the past few years. We have the venerable Yes, Minister, which serves as one of the inspirations for the genre, having been recently repopularised by the likes of Veep and the Thick of It.Utopia seems to be an Australian emulation of these kind of political machinations by veteran Australian comedian Rob Sitch; of Frontline fame.Whilst I appreciate an attempt at this kind of comedy in Australia, the truth is, we don't really have the writing talent to execute this concept well. This show is very "first season" - raw, characters are underdeveloped, dialogue is often cliché & the writing predictable. The players aren't very believable; with players either swinging between down to earth to fault, or completely insubstantial. The attempts to mock government waste and bureaucracy fails because it seems that the writers can't actually create a convincing bureaucracy or Catch 22. It seems instead that writers rely on characters simply flip flopping between two outcomes.The secretaries are so incredibly daft that it often destroys willing suspension of disbelief. The manic pixie dream girl is especially deserving for ridicule for bad lines, poor acting and a terrible stereotype Sometimes it seems this show was written by American writers using Australian actors.One of the major flaws with the show is it often makes pretenses to humour that aren't there. It is simply put at times, unfunny and unoriginal Other times plots are so cookie cutter that the show becomes less cringe humour, and more cringeworthy. It has a that very "drama undergraduate" vibbe that all ABC and many other Australian productions seem to have. It's important for writers and dire tors to remember that just because something amuses the players on set, doesn't mean it will amuse the audience; as most of the shows jokes fall flat.The show isn't a complete write off, it occasionally draws a wry laugh, and watching Sitch and Flanagan can be entertaining.The premise isn't necessarily that bad, but it needs to take more cues from The Thick of It, and far, far less from the US remake of the Office, which is far closer to what this show represents in reality if not ambition.

This is yet another masterpiece from the team of Santo (Snatto), Gliesner and Sitch, the people who brought you the brilliant political satire "The Hollowmen".Those who don't work within the Public Service of Australia will likely look at this and wonder what is going on, but for those of us on the "inside", the humour can be found.The basic premise revolves around a Government office (Nat. Building Authority), with its incompetent low-grade staff, it's time-wasting managers, pushy marketing department, and the piles of red tape our "hero" (Sitch) has to wade through to get even the most simple things done.Like 'Hollowmen', the humour here is very dry, and while there are still the sight gags and silliness we expected from a show like that, there's a lot of subtlety that will be lost on those not familiar with what it's like working in the APS.To those who enjoyed 'Hollowmen', I would highly recommend this show. It's not quite as good as that show in my opinion, as the 'lead' characters aren't as fully developed (Tony, Nat and Hugh are marvellous though), and at times some of the characters irritate me to no end (Rhonda, oh how I hate you). Although thinking about it, that's probably the whole idea, because aside from the moronic PA, these people would not seem out of place at all in any government department.The acting (c'mon, it's a small Aussie show, we're not expecting A-listers) for the most part is very good. Sitch, Pacquola, McGregor, Wilson and yes, even Kitty Flanagan do a wonderful job of portraying "Pubes". The small-part characters are also quite memorable, particularly the guy from the iSelect ads. Sadly, some like Lawson, Truslove and even Lehman, just seem to be phoning it in (Lawson's character Scott also feels entirely pointless).Kudos to these guys for producing yet another Australian gem. The first episode is a little slow (and seemed like it needed an "Intro"), but by episode 2, everything was looking great. Except Rhonda...