The Castle (1997)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Rob Sitch

Writers:

Santo Cilauro (written by)
Tom Gleisner (written by)

Release Date:

7 May 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Ordinary Family. Extraordinary Story.

Plot:

A Melbourne family is very happy living where they do, near the Melbourne airport (according to Jane Kennedy...

Plot Keywords:

Airport | Honeymoon | Aviation | Australia | Australian Life

Awards:

2 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Michael Caton	...	Darryl Kerrigan
Anne Tenney	...	Sal Kerrigan
Stephen Curry	...	Dale Kerrigan
Anthony Simcoe	...	Steve Kerrigan
Sophie Lee	...	Tracy Kerrigan
Wayne Hope	...	Wayne Kerrigan
Tiriel Mora	...	Dennis Denuto
Eric Bana	...	Con Petropoulous
Charles 'Bud' Tingwell	...	Lawrence Hammill
Robyn Nevin	...	Federal Court Judge
Costas Kilias	...	Farouk
Bryan Dawe	...	Ron Graham
Monty Maizels	...	Jack
Lynda Gibson	...	Evonne
John Benton	...	Mr. Lyle

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) (censored) | Malaysia:U | UK:15 | Italy:T | Australia:M | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Company:

Working Dog

Trivia:

On Miramax's US poster, writer/creator Santo Cilauro's name is misspelled "Cilaurio".

Goofs:

Continuity: In the background, either side of viewing Sal's lampshade, a packet of Smith’s chips is visible. Before we see the lampshade, the chip packet is facing backwards, after the scene, the packet is facing forwards.

Quotes:

Con Petropoulous: And can I just say how disenchanted I am with the legal system

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dying Breed (2008)

Soundtrack:

All Right Now

Absolutely brilliant movie - definitely my all-time favourite comedy.

I just loved everything about this movie. This is how comedy films should be made. It's just a really beautifully scripted and perfectly acted film and there are just so many extremely funny scenes in it that it's hard to pick out a favourite.

It would have been so easy to ruin this movie by overacting, as happens in many American comedies, but everybody gets it just right and the end result is that rare thing - a perfect movie! The Kerrigan family home is under threat from the local airport authorities who want to use the land their house is built on to extend the airport. Their father, Darryl Kerrigan, played brilliantly by Michael Caton, vows to fight them all the way and engages a local lawyer, Dennis Denuto (played by Tiriel Mora), to help him fight the case in the courts. Unfortunately, the lawyer is a small-time criminal defender who has no knowledge of property rights or constitutional law - but this doesn't bother Darryl since he has complete faith in Dennis' ability to save his home.

The film follows the Kerrigans battles through the various courts and contains some of the funniest and most heart-warming courtroom scenes that I've ever seen. Everyone should see this movie!