THE MOVIE

Aussie comedian Mick Molloy plays Jack Simpson, an office worker at an inner city call centre. He’s a bit of a scam artist and has been a member of the Cityside Bowls Club since 1996 simply for the free parking. Jack actually has several memberships and rents out his car park permits to people who work nearby.

Meanwhile, the economic situation at the bowls club is dire. The club needs to raise $7000 in 30 days or the club will be dissolved and memberships rescinded. To make matters worse, a shady developer called Bernie Fowler (John Clarke) wants to takeover the club, refurbish it and introduce poker machines.

When club president Len Johnson (Frank Wilson) discovers that Jack is a member, the club threatens to withdraw his membership along with his car parking permits. If he wants to remain a member he must bowl. Interestingly, it seems that Jack has a natural flair for the game and he soon winds up on the team when the members decide to enter a cash prize tournament to try and save the club.

Crackerjack also stars Bill Hunter (Muriel’s Wedding) as Stan Coombs, Australian comedian Judith Lucy as journalist Nancy Brown and Samuel Johnson (from the television series The Secret Life of Us) as Jack’s pot smoking flatmate Dave Jackson. Tony Martin (who worked with Mick Molloy on radio) also appears as a bowling commentator at the big lawn bowls final near the end of the film.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Crackerjack is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen and it is 16:9 enhanced. It is a pretty good transfer with a satisfactory level of detail. The other thing that you’ll notice about this transfer is the warm colour palette. The grass isn’t fluorescent green for once, but a more natural shade of green. Flesh tones are also nicely saturated.

This transfer has only minimal film grain and I only found several incidences of aliasing. One occurring during chapter 13 (46.40 minutes) as the camera pans upwards past the corrugated roof of the club house. Unfortunately the layer change sticks out like a sore thumb, it occurs just after a scene change, and is placed between chapter 15 and chapter 16 (54.38 minutes).

Audio:

This DVD comes with four soundtracks, one English Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack and three English Dolby Digital 2.0 channel soundtracks, one featuring production audio and two audio commentary tracks (see below for more information).

The Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack is satisfactory but it’s a little front heavy. The only noticeable rear channel effects were some subtle background nuances such as the crowd banter at the general meeting during chapter 6 (21.07 minutes) and the sound of the poker machines during chapter 10 (33.56 minutes). Similarly, low frequency output was also rather subtle and my subwoofer went into sleep mode once or twice during the film.

Dialogue is clearly audible for the most part and the original music by Gareth Skinner is excellent. Thankfully much of the musical score is audible in the rear channels. This film also features music by artists such as Ben Lee, The Sunnyboys and Australian Crawl. I did detect some slight audio synch problems, but these weren’t overly distracting.

THE EXTRAS

Audio Commentary 1
The first commentary track features writer, actor and producer Mick Molloy, his brother and co-writer Richard Molloy (who also served as associate producer), along with comedian/actor Judith Lucy (who only joins in about 18 minutes into the film). This is quite a relaxed commentary. If you like Mick Molloy’s humour, then you’re bound to enjoy this commentary track. There are lots of jokes, but there are also a surprising number of technical insights as well. Mick mentions that John Clarke acted as a script editor, fine tuning Mick and Richard’s script. Mick also talks about undergoing lawn bowling training, CGI and remote control bowls, and continuity problems with beer glasses and cigarettes in the bar scenes. Interestingly, Richard Molloy did all Mick’s driving scenes as Mick has lost his licence three times.

Audio Commentary 2
The second commentary track features director Paul Moloney, director of photography Brent Crockett and producer Stephen Luby. These three talk a lot about casting, the modest budget and the great work done by the art department. There are numerous technical insights as well. They discuss lighting (turning day into night and night into day) and how various shots were achieved. You can also find out which cast member was the best bowler.

Deleted Scenes
There are five deleted scenes and these can be played with or without commentary by Mick Molloy. There is also a ‘Play All’ feature. All deleted scenes are presented in 1.85:1 widescreen (with time code information above and below frame) with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Total running time is around 9 minutes.

Alternate Flippers
Selecting this option loads a submenu with three options; Zadok the Priest by Handel, Gareth’s Original Flipper and Messerschmit. These are basically three different audio options for the ‘flipper’ scene that takes place near the end of the film. The scene is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Running time is around 5 minutes.

Behind the Scenes
This is genuine behind the scenes footage. We get to see the cast and crew working on the film’s big finale on location at a bowls club in Corowa. Find out how they got the bowls to go exactly where they needed them. There are also interviews with some of the extras involved in the crowd at the big competition. This behind the scenes footage is presented in 1.33:1 full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Running time is approximately 7 minutes.

Theatrical Trailer
This is a great trailer, lots of good laughs in here. It is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. Running time is 2.21 minutes.

TV Ads
There are five television commercials for the film; Explorer, Cityside, Test, Can I Go? and The Flipper. There is also a ‘Play All’ feature. All television commercials are presented in 1.33:1 full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound. The first three commercials run for approximately 30 seconds and the last two run for approximately 15 seconds.

Stills Gallery
Nothing out of the ordinary here. Basically this is just four pages (36 photos) of production and behind the scenes colour photos from the film.

Swear Jar
Want to know how many swear words there are in this film, $16 dollars worth, and at 50 cents a pop, that’s 32 in total. This is a 27 second montage of all the swear words from the film. This extra is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound.

SUMMARY

He’s done radio, television and now Aussie comedian Mick Molloy has his own feature film. It’s called Crackerjack and it’s a very enjoyable Australian comedy. The film was written by Mick Molloy and Richard Molloy. The film was directed by Paul Moloney (Sea Change, Blue Heelers, Halifax F.P. and Stingers). This DVD has an excellent visual transfer and the audio transfer is satisfactory. It also comes with a collection of interesting extra features including two commentary tracks.