Film Reviews

Eagle vs Shark

• Rating:
• Director: Taika Cohen.
• Starring: Loren Horsley, Dylan Taylor, Jemaine Clement, Craig Hall.
• Details: New Zealand / 93mins (15A).

** Preview ** "She's a lesbian. She went to a lesbian party," replies Lily (Horsley) when asked why the hot girl Jarrod (Clement) invited to his fancy dress party didn't turn up. You see, burger joint employee Lily has had a thing for Jarrod for ages and she's gatecrashed his party dressed as a shark to move in for the kill. Jarrod, dressed like an eagle, invites her in and thus the wooing begins. However, Jarrod is too obsessed on exacting revenge on his high school bully to notice Lily's charms, even though she scores highly on his favourite video game. There's a distinct whiff of Napoleon Dynamite coming from this low budget, offbeat indie comedy and although that's not necessarily a bad thing, word has it that Jared Hess's debut was better and, more importantly, funnier. Director Taika Cohen (or Waititi as he's sometimes known) most certainly has a visual eye, but sometimes tries to hard to be quirky.

Review by Gavin Burke