The Castle

Forget the rudimentary visual style, the Capra-esque plot (against all odds, a family battles the fat cats who slap a compulsory purchase order on their far from prepossessing home), and the very slight possibility that the film could be an allegory about governmental attitudes towards Aboriginal land. This Oz comedy is terrifically funny from start to finish, largely because the relentlessly optimistic Kerrigans are not just the usual wacky eccentrics beloved by cinema - they're downright moronic, under-achievers in almost every imaginable way. (We've heard of stories with unreliable narrators - but cretinous?) Crucially, however, Sitch and his team present them in a sufficiently sympathetic light to make us care about their fate - that is, providing there's time for such considerations between the virtually non-stop laughs. Bonzer indeed.