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| Danny Deckchair |
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  (7/10)
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Runtime: 100 |
| Public Rating: 7.50 (62 votes) |
Director: Jeff Balsmeyer |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Comedy/satire |
Year: 2003 |
| Writer(s): Jeff Balsmeyer |
| Distributor: Fox |
| Reviewed by: Avril Carruthers |
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Produced by Andrew Mason, Howard Baldwin, Karen Baldwin, William Immerman, Lizzie Bryant.
Starring Rhys Ifans, Miranda Otto, Justine Clarke, Rhys Muldoon, John Batchelor, Maggie Dence.
“A balloon-borne blast of levity and gentle satire.”
A beautifully filmed and neatly crafted comedy, Danny Deckchair will appeal to those of us who dream of escaping an unfulfilling job, a restrictive relationship, city traffic or just the tedious treadmill of ambition where imaginative flights, fanciful or otherwise, are not only denied but scorned.
Danny Morgan (Rhys Ifans) is a builder’s labourer living in Sydney whose inattention at a crucial moment when pouring wet cement results in his falling in, for the second time in a week, to be pulled out by his exasperated workmates. “Yer thinkin’ about yer bloody holiday!” It’s two days away, and Danny’s eyes under their curtain of wet cement glaze over in anticipatory rapture.
Danny’s partner Trudy (Justine Clarke) is a gung-ho real estate agent whose idea of a holiday does not match Danny’s of flying to Port Douglas and camping in a tent. When the opportunity arises for her to show rising star TV sportscaster Sandy Upman (Rhys Muldoon) some property when she is supposed to be on holiday with Danny, her eyes glaze over in turn and she hands Danny a pack of lies, which he soon discovers, to put the holiday off.
According to Trudy, Danny is “little people” with crazy ideas and no action of any consequence. He is the sort of fellow who is attracted to joke shops and zany notions such as a giant catapult, erected in his backyard, to eject himself from his less than fulfilling life. While gloomily buying supplies for the compensatory backyard barbeque Justine has organised, Danny spontaneously plunders the joke shop of its supply of helium gas canisters and giant balloons. During the barbeque he attaches the balloons to his deckchair and amidst screams of wonder and horror, takes off into the atmosphere where a storm blows him into another life, another identity and another chance.
The movie’s humour lies not only in the improbable story line (which actually has its basis in fact, people do try to harness themselves to weather balloons, no doubt prompted by the cemented limitations of gravity to seek higher wisdom or just more levity on their situation). Rhys Ifans’ Danny is a gentle everyman played with less exaggerated slapstick than his characters in Human Nature or Notting Hill. The pretensions of those chasing the illusory gains of fame and power are hilariously sent up, as is the seriousness of a local politician (played by a beautifully sour-faced Maggie Dence) who is compelled to show her constituents the “right way of doing things”.
In the town of Clarence, the rural paradise where Danny’s deckchair finally lands in an explosion of fireworks, he discovers that in following his true nature he shows up the shallowness of pretentious, ambitious strivers and wins the hearts of “little people” like himself who make all the difference. Although somewhat clichéd, this concept is freshly treated and sweetly done, not least because of the participation in the film of some real life inhabitants of the tropically lush town of Bellingen in northern New South Wales.
Small town gossip is even more effective than superficial city values at wielding social approval if one is less than confident in following one’s inner nature, and Danny’s dropping into the life of Glenda Lake, Clarence’s sole parking cop, (Miranda Otto) serves to jolt her lacklustre life as well as his own back into true alignment and onto the distant roads they both yearn to travel.
A few mishaps and comic mis-timings hilariously conceal or reveal Danny’s origins through the TV coverage of his disappearance and ensuing search. While Trudy and Sandy Upman lustfully claw their way over each other’s celebrity to promote their own, the effect of Danny’s action captures public imagination, inspiring people to do things they’ve always wanted, but never allowed themselves, to do. In Clarence Danny is having the same effect and though there are necessary obstacles in the path of true love, this romantic comedy has a delightfully whimsical and light – in more than one sense – ending.
A highly capable cast includes the vivacious Justine Clarke as Trudy and the superbly cast Rhys Muldoon as the equally camera-loving TV presenter Sandy. Miranda Otto as Glenda is brilliant and the chemistry evident in Human Nature in which she also starred with Rhys Ifans is obvious here. Rhys Ifans’ nicely judged, transparent performance allows us to see more of his capabilities and his Australian accent is perfect. Cinematography by Martin McGrath captures the most spectacular features of all locations as well as adding depth and intimacy to scenes whether in the massed ballroom or just between two actors. Writer/director Jeff Balsmeyer’s talent and experience pull all the elements of the film together to present a deliciously funny and upbeat satire.
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