The Big Steal

Australian teen Danny (Mendelsohn) craves only two things from life: a Jaguar and fellow-student Joanna (Karvan). He's working class, she's not, so Danny convinces himself that she will only go out with him if he possesses the dream car. Cue large debts and a spiralling nightmare with shady car-dealer Gordon Farkas (Bisley), setting the scene for a ruined date and desperate revenge. In this unevenly paced film, the directing-writing team of Tass and David Parker have retained some of the absurdity of their earlier Malcolm. The film eventually veers off into slapstick: a shame, because the prolonged chase scenes detract from the offbeat view of suburbia and peer pressure which lifts this above more mundane offerings in the genre. Mendelsohn's combination of vulnerability and bravado is a consistent delight.