Starring: Nick Giannopoulos, Vince Colosimo, Sarah Roberts, Annabel Marshall-Roth, Anthony J Sharpe, Costa D’Angelo, Carlo Salanitri, Liam Seymour, Havana Brown, Newnest Addakula.
Runtime: 109 mins. Reviewed in Oct 2022
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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Steve and Frank, of Greek and Italian heritage, were popular as the Wog Boys in the 1990s. Here they are again, 20 plus years older, not necessarily wiser, in the broadest of comedies, but with a number of still relevant political migration and cultural issues.
While Nick Giannopoulis and his stage presentations were popular in the 1990s, the first Wog Boys film was released in 1999. Then came The Kings of Mykonos in 2012. And now the third instalment – decades between gigs. Fans (and non-fans), of the first two films will know what to expect.
This is a film of broad (sometimes very broad) comedy, quite a lot of basic jokes, right from the start. But as it goes on, it is like its predecessors, an acknowledgement that, apart from First Nations people, everybody in Australia is a migrant or descendant of migrants, whether they want to acknowledge this or not. And, the point is made, that every migrant generation tends to be wary of, critical of the next.
It is probably better to be a reviewer than a critic of the Wog Boys films, critics tending to take a dim view of this kind of comedy. The role of the reviewer, on the other hand, is to note what works and what doesn’t work, what is amusing and what might not amuse so much. Delving into files, this reviewer wrote about The Kings of Mykonos, ‘This is not highbrow artistic comedy and those who look at it as if it were highbrow make the equivalent mistake of reading a newspaper’s comic strip as if it were the editorial.’ Still true of this film.
There is a lot of l basic groundwork in the early part of the film, reintroducing Steve Karamitsis, comedian and writer Nick Giannopoulis’ long-standing character. But now, he has been alienated for years from his friend Frank Di Benedetto (Colosimo doing his usual), driving a cab, part of the team of cabbies most of whom seem to come from the subcontinent, establishing just how many migrants there are in Australia, where they live, their jobs, and issues of visas and the government. And Steve has some bizarre neighbours who provide some of the basic jokes.
Then, the film becomes a bit more interesting when there are some indications of plot. In fact, there are two plot streams which come together. The first is romantic, Steve suddenly finding his passenger is Cleo (an engaging Sarah Roberts) whom he dated more than 18 years before. Steve has become rather reclusive, a touch remote, morose, older, not the Steve that we knew before. This line of plot leads to him following Cleo on a date with a young man, her being a DJ at a big Melbourne nightclub, and some touches of raucous comedy as Steve is forbidden into the club. Steve takes the role of the bus driver for a load of rowdy tourists, and traps the house manager being bigoted on video. And Steve discovers that Cleo’s date is her son, Michael (D’Angelo). Could it be his, he thinks it is – with some woebegone consequences for him.
But the main part of the plot, and perhaps the interesting part, is political. We may or may not remember that Steve and Frank fell foul of an ambitious politician back in 1999. And now we have her two children, as ruthless as she, one a minister in government responsible for migration. The younger brother does her beck and call. They want revenge on Steve because of their mother, and are into all kinds of entrapment. And she has a link with the rather narcissistic and sleazy owner of the nightclub who has been Cleo’s partner for some years.
The plot definitely thickens with all kinds of shenanigans. It looks as though Nick Giannopoulis had Pauline Hanson in front of in mind while writing the character of the racist, Australia first, campaigning-for-Senate politician. She has some diehard supporters – but they are not the kinds of people who will be lining up to see Wog Boys Forever.
Of course, it does work out, Steve and Frank united, some pathos with Frank’s father dying, Steve bonding with Michael over cars, both happy and cheerful ending. So, once again, a reminder that this is very broad comedy with migrant and ethnic issues.
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