Straight Outta Benoni

The movie is about two South African chaps, living in the suburban limbo that many young South Africans find them in a post-Apartheid era where Affirmative Action has cut their options down. The actors are mostly accomplished at their art, the cinematography is quite good, but the script and editing lets the whole thing down. Although supposed to be a comedy, the chuckles can be counted on one hand. Wry smiles are the best that I could generate. Extensive use of slow motion slows the movie down to a crawl at times, and it somehow never gets going. This may be deliberate, reflecting the lives of our protagonists who also never seem to get going, but it does not compel the viewer used to fast paced Hollywood action.

Low budget? Definitely. But low budget is a challenge to film makers, and should not be a death knell.

On the bright side, their are no cheap politically correct themes, and no pie-in-the-face scenes a la Schuster to get cheap ratings.

A huge pity that the actor who plays Brett was recently killed in a senseless killing. This will probably give the movie undeserved cult status. Judged on it's own merits, it does not deserve cult status.

This film blew me away - it is cutting edge stuff. This was out there like Wayne's World or Napoleon Dyanamite or any of these new age cult movies. I can't believe South Africans made this movie. We are really coming of age. Our local cinema is going to fly if this is the kind of film that is being made at present. Yes, not all of it was brilliant, and some of the characters were quite over the top, but overall it was absolutely amazing. It was also too funny for words. Brendan Jack is South Africa's Jack Black. They even have some such similar names. It must be a sign. This is one fantastic piece of work - I am sure these Crazy Monkey guys are going to go from strength to strength. I hope they continue doing their stuff.

This is the worst movie I have ever seen. I tried to laugh at the jokes, but it took a lot of effort.

It's just not funny. What is funny to me is that people can give this movie 10 out of 10.

There is nothing good about this movie. I must say that the marketing for the movie is actually good. I think the producer spent most of his budget on marketing.

Anyway, I just want to let people know how bad this movie is. Don't waste money to go and see this. It is really not worth the time and money.

I think fans of more "dialogue" driven comedy, often the type that improves with multiple viewings, as opposed to frat boy gross out humor, will really enjoy this movie. I liked it the first time, and really loved it the second and the third was ridiculously funny. There's a lot of subtlety in there that can be missed. Being a South African, I feel this is a brave, foolish step in the right direction for filmic comedy in this country.

And the movie works on quite a subversive level I found. It really highlights the whole "instant fame" society we live in where everyone believes they can make it. It's about following your dreams in a really haphazard way. Awesome.

This is the worst movie ever made anywhere on planet earth. Zero out of ten is flattery. They should allow minus numbers. The two main characters are a Wayne's world lookalike and his sidekick who tries to model his role on Chevy Chase. If you think their acting is bad, it gets worse with the cop who models his role on Jim Carey and fails, miserably. Occasional attempts at American accents. It is quite a difficult accent for South Africans and impossible for any of this cast.

Was there a plot?. I don't think so. The only faint glimmer of humour was the high school address by the head-boy, Idols compère Colin Moss, also acting the role of a Joe Kool Fonzarelli character, which he did OK with. Danny Kaye also sang a song or two and these two guys's personal fan club obviously raised the vote count to what looks like a respectable rating. Waste of time. Waste of money. No laughs.