Missed the edit window… I made a mistake. RT has DD at 62%.
It also caused considerable damage to tourism in the Northern Territory, from what I heard- so it might be a good example of a movie that shouldn’t have gotten a widespread release at the time.
And all the people saying “But here’s a list of great Aussie films!” are still missing the point, IMHO. We know we can make “great” films here (not that I think anyone has managed recently), but we just don’t seem to make the “middle-of-the-road” films that are the bread and butter of a decent film industry.
Old School was on TV last night, and whilst not a great film by any stretch of the imagination, it’s fun, and there’s no reason why the basic plot (A group of friends in their 30s decide to recapture their glory days at University by hosting lots of parties at their house near the uni, Hilarity Ensues™) couldn’t be adapted to an Australian market and made here on the cheap, and still be a decent, watchable film with no pretensions to anything more than that. But those sorts of movies aren’t getting made, and I think it’s worth exploring why that is in further detail…
If you haven’t read the article don’t ask linked to above, take the time to do so.
According to the article, the main problem is that the profit motive has been taken out due to misguided government funding, so boring movies get made. Australian films therefore get a reputation for sucking, or at least not making any money, so private funding is hard to get.
And as has been already mentioned, Australia has a small talent pool. It’s like asking why Pennsylvania and Ohio-- combined, they have about the same population as Oz-- aren’t making better movies.
Cue somebody with a list of his favorite movies filmed in Pennsylvania and Ohio.