The Castle

The premise of this raucous Australian comedy finds proud but simple homeowner Daryl Kerrigan (Michael Caton in a splendid comic performance) fighting the power when his family "castle" seems destined to become the location for a new airport runway (never mind that the "castle" in question is an eyesore built on landfill). It's no small task to laugh with characters and laugh at them at the same time, but that's exactly what The Castle accomplishes, turning the family's smiling bad taste into perfectly-pitched gags. The Kerrigans think they're living a charmed life where meatloaf is a meal fit for a king, yet it's exactly that skewed perspective that makes the film as endearing as it is hilarious. Even though, in some ways, it's a one-joke film, it's told with the kind of skill we don't see very often. Highly recommended. (S. Renshaw)