Les Patterson Saves the World (1987)

the audience applauded

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

What I liked,The fart scene at the beginning, and the headlines "Big Flareup at UN" or "Big Stink"The typical suburb which had kangaroos, emus and wombats and other wildlife wandering around the streets. Apparently a common misconception by touristsThe official embassy car was a stretched FJ Holden with the Australian Coat of Arms on the side.The OzCharge credit card which said: "Charge to: The Australian Taxpayer"Paul Jennings who impersonates the PM Bob Hawke was saying "aww cripes" when dealing with Sir Les Patterson and sends him to an obscure country

The scene in the revolving restaurant of the Sydney Tower comes a full ten years after The Goodies did it in the "Alternative Roots" episode (1977). Graeme Tim and Bill (in their ancestral guises of Celtic Kilty, County Cutie and Kinda Kinky) have been kidnapped by an unscrupulous tour leader who is taking them on a whirlwind tourist tour of London. He forces them up to the revolving restaurant of the Post Office tower (the same one that Twinkle the giant kitten famously toppled). The restaurant spins faster and faster until all the diners are stuck to the windows via centrifugal force. This scene is of course considerably shorter and less expensive than the one set in the Sydney Tower in Les Patterson Saves the World, but no doubt both sequences derive from a universal and visceral mistrust of revolving restaurants.

Jeez. Where do you begin? Stupid overblown(i.e. not funny) plot, appalling garish 1980s-at-its-worst set design and general art direction, a script that needs major surgery and too much Dame Edna Everage. In its favour there is so little of the wonderful Sir Les Patterson on DVD that you have to take your pleasures where you can. He is up there with Ali G as one of the most un-PC comic characters ever created. To see him say, what so much of want to actually say - but have too much common sense to say, is a non-stop treat. If you do not like Sir Les Patterson then you will be better off sticking to a bumper edition of Friends.

This is the rare merciful Australian comedy that doesn't star Paul Hogan or Yahoo Serious. Instead, it stars Barry Humphries, who was wonderful as Bert the game show host in the overlooked classic "Shock Treatment". This movie, however, is not a classic. As Australian comedies go, it's pretty embarrassing, and that's saying a lot (as anyone who's seen "Young Einstein" can attest).Humphries plays the titular character, a repugnant, leathery, big toothed, eternally horny drunkard who starts off the movie by farting, which causes a man standing behind him to burst into flames. Usually I'm a big fan of flaming flatulence humor, like The Eternal Flame character in "Freaked", but here it left me cold. Don't get me wrong, the director was obviously passionate about the material, but here it falls flat.Anyhoo, Patterson gets wrapped up in some obscure Middle Eastern plot to spread a virus by planting it on poisoned toilet seats. The virus causes it's victims to mutate into horrible, lumpy-faced monstrosities oozing puss.Speaking of which, it should be noted that Joan Rivers is in this movie. She is one of the most horrifying actresses in show business. From her pointy voice to her hateful fashion views to her plastic face, she frightens me more than an army of Freddy Kreugers. Thank goodness her film credits are small and after her creepy cameo at the end of "Look Who's Talking" the producers had the good sense to replace her with Roseanne in the sequel (actually, that's kind of a lateral move).Anyway, back to this movie. For some reason Dame Edna Everage (also played by Humphries) shows up, and compared to Rivers he/she's a Goddess. This movie has a lot of things going for it- exploding koalas, some animation, a character called Dr. Herpes- but unfortunately it's all tied into Patterson, a revolting character who at no time approached anything even remotely resembling likability. By the time you get to the finale at a revolving restaurant in which another man in drag shows up, you'll be longing for the quiet subtlety of "Reckless Kelly" (a movie I actually like- it's Yahoo Serious' "Laurence of Arabia).