Dir. Scott Hicks, Australia/UK, 2009, 104 mins
Cast: Clive Owen, Laura Fraser, George MacKay
Review by Carol Allen
The film is adapted from political writer Simon Carr's autobiographical book about how he coped with being a single parent.
Joe Warr (Owen), as the character is called in the film, has a high powered career as a leading sports journalist in Australia, where he lives with his second wife Katy and their small son Artie (Nicholas McAnulty). When Katy dies of cancer, Joe is left to bring up his son alone, juggling home and career, and he hasn't got a clue about even the basics like doing the washing. Then his teenage son Harry (MacKay), who lives in England with Joe's first wife, comes out to Australia to stay and Joe finds himself not only coping with a spirited and disturbed small son but with the problems of the son that he deserted.
Joe's haphazard, "Just say yes" method of child rearing gives rise to some very funny scenes in the chaos of the now all male household with minimum rules, which he describes as "Hog Heaven". It's also perceptive and often moving, as in Joe's poignant line describing his now single state: "I've plenty of people to do things with, but no-one to do nothing with" or the hollow ring of his statement about his divorce, which we discover has affected Harry deeply: "Our parents stayed together for the sake of the children. We divorced for the same reason."
The strength of the film lies in its performances, which are all first class. Owen, who also acted as one of the film's producers, is on screen virtually the whole time and gets the opportunity to display a wide range of emotions. He's always a good actor and as Joe he gives us a flawed, likeable, complex and very human character. McNulty is amazing, particularly in the scenes where we realise how disturbed and angry he is at the loss of his mother, which are heartbreaking. He's a beautiful looking child without any trace of the self conscious cuteness that mars some child movie actors' performances. The relationship which grows between him and Harry is very engaging. MacKay as Harry is very moving in his teenage inarticulation, his feeling of being an outsider and his anger at his father's desertion. Both these young actors have to deal with some very tricky emotions and they do it very well.
The character of Barbara, Joe's mother in law (Julia Blake) is an interesting one - a woman who is grief stricken over the death of her daughter but also annoyingly though understandably controlling in her relationship with her son in law and grandson. Fraser doesn't have a large part but makes a strong impression in her flashback scenes as Joe's wife. The film teases us with the possibility of a new relationship for Joe with Laura (Emma Booth), another single parent who befriends and advises him, but avoids falling into the expected cliché.
We hear a lot about the problems of the single mother, so it's good to see such a story from a man's point of view - that of a man who initially isn't a very good father and has to learn how to become one, both to Artie and Harry, with whom he has to form a new relationship .
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