Horseplay (2003)

A comedy about a horse trainer.

Director:

Stavros Kazantzidis

Writers:

Stavros Kazantzidis, Allanah Zitserman

Stars:

Marcus Graham, Tushka Bergen, Jason Donovan

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Marcus Graham	...	Max MacKendrick
Tushka Bergen	...	Alicia Coxhead
Jason Donovan	...	Henry
Natalie Mendoza	...	Jade
Abbie Cornish	...	Becky Wodinski
Amanda Douge	...	Grace
Terence Donovan	...	Mr. Perlman
Jacek Koman	...	Roman
Robert Menzies	...	Seamus
Damien Richardson	...	Gilles
Bill Hunter	...	Barry Coxhead
Hugo Weaving	...	Narrator (voice)
Alyssa McClelland	...	Cindy Perlman
Valda Bucella	...	Helen Laws
Mark Owen-Taylor	...	Charles Winterbottom

Storyline

Lovable rogue Max Mackendrick dreams about winning big on the Melbourne Cup. Set in the colourful world of horseracing, Horseplay follows the chaotic life of a wannabe horse trainer as he deals with the turf, the ladies and everyone else out to get him.

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Plot Keywords:

trainer | horse | revenge | murder

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Taglines:

A comedy about murder, greed, lust, revenge & turf

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 May 2003 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Ston ippodromo

Filming Locations:

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC), Macquarie Film Corporation, Mushroom Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Allanah Zitserman:  one of the couple talking to a young skinhead man at Flemington Race Course.

User Reviews

Knobbled before it can even get away!

Why do all contemporary Australian moviemakers suddenly want to make the next Pulp Fiction? Here's another example that brings to mind You Can't Stop The Murders from a few months back. It had a great premise (all the characters from the Village People - Indian, cowboy, bike rider etc. getting bumped off with the policeman next unless he solves the case) but the script and direction were, well, appalling. Here the direction is better, but the script is still heavy-handed, plodding and instead of being zappy is just plain dumb. The premise - a loser who wants to prove he's somebody by throwing the Melbourne Cup horse race - had potential. The acting isn't too bad either. But once again there's all this unnecessary nasty violence (it's cool! it's now! it's groovy kids!) and teen girls with wigs and guns (how very Tarantino) mashed in and the film just stalls at the gate. It's hard to imagine who this will appeal to, but one thing is for sure - there's unlikely to be a sequel.