Muggers (1999)

Directed by Dean Murphy

Produced by Nigel Odell & David Redman

Starring Matt Day, Jason Barry, Petra Yared, Nicola Charles, Chris Haywood, Rod Mullinar, Marshall Napier, Caroline Gillmer, Robert Morgan, Ken Radley, Anthony Morgan, Pip Mushkin, Frank Gallacher, Robert Carlton

My apologies, I just had to throw this one in for the laugh factor alone, as well as a small spot of jingoistic flag waving for the Aussie film industry. Why a comedy with a bunch of "Neighbours" actors and the Irish bloke from "Titanic" I hear you all ask? Do the words "live organ donors" and "black comedy" strike a chord with any of you? Thought so. Dean Murphy's riotously funny exploration of the lengths the desperate will sink to was sorely overlooked on its home turf (we're not renowned for "bad taste" comedies), thus I'm here to draw attention to it for a wider audience now that it has (quietly) surfaced on DVD.

Brad Forrest (Day) and Gregor O'Reilly (Barry) are two down on their luck medical students at a prominent Melbourne campus. They're failing their exams, much to the disdain of their professor (Napier), living in the squalor of an apartment that should be condemned, and up to their eyeballs in debt to local loan shark George "Roy" Rogers (Haywood). What to do? If they fail their final exams, their prospective careers as surgeons will be over, which would supremely delight their class nemesis Nigel Stamford-Street (Bossell). An attempt to steal their up-coming exam papers from the university computer stumbles them across the unethical practices of Head Surgeon Marcus Browning (Mullinar), who has a private business in human organs running in the recesses of the institution. All Dr. Browning requires is a handful of kidneys and a liver, and opportunity Brad and Gregor find too lucrative to resist.

What starts innocently enough, quickly descends into the boys going to extraordinary measures to obtain "fresh" donors. Not murder mind you, but the human body can survive on one kidney, right? And it would be a dreadful shame for the two aspiring surgeons to overlook the opportunity to hone their medical skills, right? As the money starts rolling in and the boys start excelling at their studies, as well as winning the attentions of the ladies (herein Yared & Charles), darker parties begin to develop an unhealthy interest in their "extra-curricular" activities. Rogers becomes suspicious of their newfound wealth, sending out his minders Trigger (Morgan) and Dale (Muskin) to keep a close eye on them. More dangerous for the duo are black-market raconteurs (and paramedics) Pat (Radley) and Ted (Robert Morgan) who become most enraged to discover that some one else is working "their patch". Not to mention the undue attention they are beginning to receive from local detective, Sergeant Kernahan (Gallacher). It can only be a matter of time before the boys' black market trade catches up with them, or will it?

Not quite sure what international audiences may make of Murphy's hysterically funny black comedy, colloquialisms and Australian topicality firmly in force, but there's a strong possibility that this one might just cross over to a wider audience. Screenwriter R.B. Taylor's original premise was set in London, but when budgetary constraints took hold the location was transposed to Melbourne. Like the transition of Nick Hornby's "High Fidelity" from the UK to the US before it, the end result is not as bad as you would first expect. Matt Day, who many UK readers may only know from "Neighbours", turns in an offbeat, twisted, yet sympathetic performance, and "Titanic's" Jason Barry makes the perfect foil for Day's straight-man. Haywood is a hoot as cowboy-crim Rogers, and the supporting cast are uniformly excellent. Yared makes a fine love interest for Day's Brad, and "Neighbours" Nicola Charles will pop British eyes with her racy, sultry performance as receptionist Belinda who delivers one of the film's funniest scenes. Let's just say bare flesh and lots of stuffed toys…J (Oh yeah, there's a splashing of slippery organs just to remind you that this is a black comedy!)

It was with some trepidation that I approached Magna Pacific's Region 4 disc of this engagingly mirthful comedy, as their prior track record in the DVD arena locally has been less than flawless. But surprise, surprise, the disc turned out to be something of a treat for the relatively budget price of $29.95AUD! Letterboxed at its full 35mm anamorphic theatrical ratio (2.35), Magna's transfer is not 16x9 enhanced but looks exceptionally good. Colours and detail are particularly vibrant and I was at a complete loss to notice any sort of artefact (film or otherwise) in the print whatsoever. In a word, the transfer looks quite marvelous. I'm sure Australia's entourage of online DVD fanatics will tell you otherwise, but I found this disc of an exceptionally high standard for a locally authored disc. Audio is presented in both Dolby surround 2.0 and Dolby digital 5.1. I seldom watch film's out of their 5.1 mix (unless there is not one present), and was happily impressed with this effort. Plus, it was nice to hear local band The Mavis's pop single "Lever" in 5.1 (I'm a big fan, so that's my plug out the way…)

Not expecting anything in the way of extras, this budget-priced disc took me quite by surprise with its smattering of additional material. Audio commentary is provided by director Dean Murphy and director of photography Roger Lanser, and is largely of a technical nature, but includes a number of amusing anecdotes on low budget filmmaking. Murphy also makes a quite wonderful quip about "selling" floor space on set for Charles' semi-nude sex scene, which adds to the warmer more personable nature of the commentary, than the usual technobabble DVD viewers are lumbered with. Additionally, there's principal Cast & Crew biographies (can't believe Murphy's so young!) that contain short interviews with each; a Making of Visual Effects featurette that covers the opening and credits CGI sequences; on-set video B-Roll footage; a few deleted scenes under the header of "Outtakes" (video sourced and a bit rough around the edges); and extensive Production Notes. Sadly, no theatrical trailer but a very nice package all the same, and a definite step in the right direction for independent Magna Pacific.

Hmmm, what to say in summation? I enjoyed this offbeat little black comedy immensely on original release, and had secretly hoped it would someday see DVD release. Thanks to Magna Pacific, that entertaining dream has come to fruition and the disc actually exceeded expectations. There's just enough quivering kidneys to slip this one into SGM territory, and a literal explosion of quirky characters and ribald dialogue to keep you pleasantly amused throughout (and don't forget…I know this will be a selling point to some Brits…Nicola Charles sort-of gets her gear off). I had a lot of fun with this, and if you're halfway as drawn to black humour as I am, then I'm sure you will do the same.

Review by M.C.Thomason