ANY QUESTIONS FOR BEN?

Just A Couple

Directed by Rob Sitch
Starring Josh Lawson, Rachael Taylor, Daniel Henshall, Felicity Ward

It’s hard to believe it’s been over a decade since the Working Dog team last produced a movie, so it’s unfortunate that the team behind such long-standing gems as The Castle and Frontline long awaited full length is a hit and miss affair.

It’s a story that many young Australians can no doubt relate to. 27-year-old Ben (Josh Lawson) thinks he has it all. He has a high paid job in marketing, a great apartment he shares with his mates in inner city Melbourne, and he gets around like The Beach Boys. So when the opportunity comes up to talk at a high school student careers night, he jumps at the opportunity to gloat about his success. Only thing is, teenage kids aren’t impressed by a guy who decides what words go on billboards, and none of the students have any questions for him. They’re much more keen on Alex’s (Rachael Taylor) work for the United Nations in Yemen.

This gets Ben down and he starts to question his life-maybe all the money and women in the world isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Something is missing. Still, Ben continues to live it up like Ja Rule, as he heads on expensive skiing trips and he even manages to coax a young Russian tennis babe into relations. When these triumphs somehow still do nothing to improve his mood, Ben asks his caravan selling dad (Rob Carlton) and pretty much any one he can for advice, but no one can seem to coax him out of his slump.

It’s a decent enough story which starts out as something of a bromantic comedy before going down the happily-ever-after romcom path, but I thought it was obvious quickly that it was made by people who have more familiarity with midlife crisis’s than quarter life ones.

Firstly, the soundtrack is horrendous. Names like Collective Soul and Eagle-Eye Cherry should not be heard in this century. And while the rest of the soundtrack mainly relied on recent radio staples (John Butler, Powderfinger, Silverchair), it gave the impression that this movie wasn’t made for people the same age as the characters.

Secondly, the characters were not that believable. Ben and all his friends dress more like lawyers than young people in semi-creative jobs. And there was a scene where he took a young lass home and then went and visited her at her job in the make-up aisle at Myer to break-up with her. No ‘player’ would feel the need to do that - haven’t these people heard of Facebook or even text messages? Ben was also a tad too well-adjusted for a self-loathing party animal too.

So there you have it, the first movie about a young person on the verge of a breakdown that’s fun for the whole family! Any Questions For Ben? is far from a bad movie as there are plenty of laughs to be had throughout, but it unfortunately doesn’t live up to Rob Sitch and Working Dog’s legacy of being leaders in Aussie champagne comedy.

_MATTHEW HOGAN