Bad Eggs (2003)

Ben Kinnear and Mike Paddock are two undercover detectives with way too much publicity.

Director:

Tony Martin

Writer:

Tony Martin

Stars:

Mick Molloy, Bob Franklin, Judith Lucy

7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mick Molloy	...	Ben Kinnear
Bob Franklin	...	Mike Paddock
Judith Lucy	...	Julie Bale
Alan Brough	...	Northey
Bill Hunter	...	Ted Pratt
Marshall Napier	...	Doug Gillespie
Steven Vidler	...	Pendlebury
Nicholas Bell	...	Wicks
Shaun Micallef	...	Premier Lionel Cray
Robyn Nevin	...	Eleanor Poulgrain
Brett Swain	...	Bartlett
Denis Moore	...	Marcus Ridgeway
Pete Smith	...	Darcy
Chris Peters	...	Rodney Poulgrain
Peter Rowsthorn	...	Wacka

Storyline

Ben Kinnear and Mike Paddock are detectives with the Melbourne Police force's elite Zero Tolerance Unit. When a freak accident involving a dead magistrate lands them on the front page of the local paper, Ben and Mike are busted down to uniformed duties. But when Ben discovers a strange link between the accident and the business affairs of a shady casino boss he and Mike have been investigating, the pair decide they can no longer turn a blind eye to the corruption rife amongst their own colleagues.

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Taglines:

A deadly serious comedy.

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Genres:

Comedy | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 July 2003 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Duros em Acção

Filming Locations:

Fountain Gate Shopping Centre, Narre Warren, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

AUD 4,800,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$426,103 (Australia) (25 July 2003)

Gross:

$1,390,534 (Australia) (15 August 2003)

Company Credits

Production Co:

A Million Monkeys, Double Yolker Films, Macquarie Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene following the destruction of Mike's house when he is furious was filmed during the night when a World Cup football match was being played. The fury in Bob Franklin's performance was 100% genuine because he was annoyed about missing the match.

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Quotes

Mike Paddock: So why'd this bloke top himself?
Ben Kinnear: They found some photos in the car. Let's just say the "respected magistrate" liked to... uh...
Mike Paddock: What?
Ben Kinnear: I'm trying to think of a legal term that has... you know, a sexual double-meaning?
Mike Paddock: 'Perform acts with underage prostitutes'?
Ben Kinnear: Is that a legal term?
Mike Paddock: Dunno, but it's the exact phrase I put on my Psychological Test under 'ambitions'.
[pause]
Mike Paddock: There's someone behind me, isn't there? And it's the worst possible person it could be, isn't it?

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Crazy Credits

The characters, entities, events and scenes depicted in this film are fictitious. Any similarities to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual entities or events are purely coincidental. Except for the bit where dog bit the sprinkler. That really happened.

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Connections

References Money Movers (1978)

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Soundtracks

"Where or When"
Performed by Frank Sinatra with Count Basie and His Orchestra

User Reviews

Light hearted tale of police corruption

I watched Bad Eggs with the preconception that it was a mix of serious cop drama and comedy. After watching The Late Show and listening to Martin/Molloy, Tony Martin has come to my attention again through his return to the airwaves on MMM. I am catching up on the self-confessed movie buff's interim works by watching Bad Eggs and reading his book Lolly Scramble.

Bob Franklin and Mick Molloy didn't strike me as the two best leading actors for a film, but they perform respectably within the low budget Australian comedy format. The comedy and drama are better integrated than I was expecting, Bad Eggs is basically a tale of two detectives with a capacity for ineptness and clumsiness, who get mixed up in corruption in their own department, the fictional Zero Tolerance Unit of Victoria. There probably actually are individual agencies like this now with a similar lack of transparency, with ASIO recently being expanded and given increased powers. The film gets serious when the two detectives get deeper and deeper in the poo, but the comedic elements return when they strike back with the help of Northey, played by Alan Borough.

On the whole Bad Eggs is akin to a film like True Lies on the comedy scale, it is primarily a drama with comedy arising from storyline elements rather than from deliberately inserted jokes. It never manages to excel in any particular area but what was achieved was a film with a professional look, a storyline that maintains interest for the first 90 minutes, and a cast of fairly decent Australian actors and comedians.