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Not Suitable for Children
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Well Go USA Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (27th June 2013). |
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The Film
 “Not Suitable For Children” is occasionally amusing, but, even with a twist, is a wholly conventional film not unlike a lot of others in its genre. It’s essentially your standard-kit romantic comedy, if admittedly one with a slightly less humorous edge, at least in terms of plot points. The only difference is it swaps out a female protagonist for a male one. But the gender swap is not particularly noteworthy anymore; a whole subgenre has been born from it. And this Australian import—directed by Academy Award nominee Peter Templeman, from a screenplay written by Michael Lucas, based on a story the two friends conceived in college—fits rather nicely in that subgenre, sharing some similarity with the output of Judd Apatow. Like the best Apatow productions (meaning, usually, the one’s he directs himself), “Not Suitable For Children” earnestly embraces a seemingly disjointed mix of uncomfortable humor and heart. The filmmakers even manage to balance the two tones quite well. Unfortunately, although it hits several high points and has some interesting, unconventionally sketched characters and solid acting, the whole picture is pulled down by the predictable plot. The picture's premise seems almost birthed from an alternate universe, the bizzaro realm of rom-coms, making sure to exploit its twist of gender to the fullest extent by taking the ticking clock of female fertility out of the equation, and replacing it with impending infertility of a man who has testicular cancer. Jonah (Ryan Kwanten) is a typical troubled twenty-something lost in a post-colligate haze of pot smoke with a bad case of perpetual beer goggles. He's mastered the art of meaningless sex while throwing massive house parties every weekend. Jobless—except for those parties, which somehow pay the bills—and sharing a house with Gus (Ryan Corr), his scruffy-faced flannel-wearing friend, and his lifelong bestie Stevie (Sarah Snook), the listless lady of their flatmates tripod, Jonah's a man-child who refuses to grow up and enter the real world. But when Jonah finds a lump, and is subsequently diagnosed with cancer, and even worse told by a specialist that he is part of a small percentage of men whose sperm dies in cryogenic storage, his whole world is thrown into chaos. With his surgery four weeks away, and the threat of infertility upon him, Jonah is in crisis. Initially, he’s not sure he ever wanted to have children, even several years down the road after he’d figured his shit out. But after doing a bit of soul searching, and deciding that he shockingly does want a little one made of his own organic material, he goes on a frantic search for that one special woman who will bear his baby. Jonah is convinced that he’s already met the future mother of his child, in particular, in Ava (Bojana Novakovic), his on-again/off-again girlfriend. Unfortunately, they're four months into a six-month trial separation (and period of agreed no-contact). But she’s the one woman he ever loved in a non-familial or strongly platonic way, or so he says, and so he plows into that temporarily closed door. But when he nervously fumbles through a phone call and eventual meeting with Ava—of course failing to mention the cancer and his real reason for calling—Jonah is forced to look elsewhere for a woman and a womb. What follows is a trip down memory lane for a guy who would probably rather forget most of his previous relationships and one night stands. Eventually, after exhausting the ex-gf option, with the help of Gus and Stevie, he begins looking at more radical options, including assisting in the insemination of a lesbian couple (resulting in one of the films most painfully awkward, but amusing scenes) and even a few chance women from Stevie’s work. Near the end of its first hour “Not Suitable For Children” predictably plods down a familiar path and, after all else has failed, Jonah realizes that he’s had this answer in front of him all along—Stevie, who insists she never wanted kids (she thinks they're evil alien monsters, or just as bad anyway), but at the same time would do anything for a friend she loves dearly. The endgame is not at all unexpected, but the way the film gets there is at entertaining, and occasionally very amusing, if only rarely outright hilarious. And the runtime is kept rolling along by Kwanten, who’s quite believable in his increasing desperation, and Snook, who is rather fantastic in the role of the thanklessly unappreciated Stevie. The film also has some unexpected heart, brought about by Templeman’s delicate blend of tone, his trio of characters believably realized through credible acting, and a series of subtle subplots in the script that do manage to subvert expectations (if only sparingly). Unlike so many willfully wanton men in movies of the same breed, over the course of the picture Jonah’s wildness is explained as an uncharacteristic outburst in response to his mother’s recent death—he wasn’t always the unlikable womanizer, and in fact was quite the family man (he's still seen taking care of his niece and nephew one day a week even in his increasingly disheveled state). It’s a subtle aside, but it makes his turn toward sudden level-headedness a lot more believable. Genuine laugh out loud moments are few and far between. Indeed, although there are several amusing scenes, “Not Suitable For Children” is a lot more serious than its press materials and marketing campaign want you to believe. The trailer for the film really does the picture a disservice, and the synopsis on the key art isn’t much better (using Tumblr-tastic catchphrases like “that awkward moment when…”). Make no mistake, this is a comedy, but the darker cancer edge immediately neuters the light-heartedness of a traditional rom-com, so the filmmakers shy away from it, instead focusing on the uncomfortable awkwardness of the situation for every character involved. And that sets the film apart (at least somewhat) from the rest of the rom-com pack and keeps the predicable plot at bay for far longer than you might think. As a feature directorial debut—Templeman received his Oscar nom for a short film; he also has a handful of Aussie TV credits—this is quite strong. Templeman's command of tone and his cast and characters shows a sure hand, and the film is also quite nicely shot (although most of that credit can probably go to cinematographer Lachlan Milne).
Video
“Not Suitable For Children” is presented in 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 high definition, framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. This is a fine looking disc for the most part. The picture supports Termpleman and Milne’s naturalistic intentions, and the digital origins—film was shot on the Arri Alexa—offers staggering, naturally clear, fine detail and a (mostly) clean, grain-less, sheen. Colors are good, if a little flat and subdued in day scenes, and slightly oversaturated at night, with exteriors taking on a Soderberg-ian yellow cast and the interiors of Jonah’s house bathed in a breadth of blue, pink, purple party lights. Contrast is slightly clipped in some scenes (a result of the limited range of the digital source), but blacks, particularly in the party scenes, are surprisingly excellent, offering strong shadow detail. There are a few areas of concern, most of which are probably inherent to the source; sporadic sensor-noise is an infrequent bother, as are intermittent issues with aliasing, a touch of high frequency haloing, and one particularly nasty bout of banding (in the opening titles). All things considered, “Not Suitable For Children” is a very good disc, but the flaws of the source material keeping it from attaining greatness.
Audio
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) comes alive during the party sequences. “Not Suitable For Children” opens with the distorted guitar and vocals of Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys (who feature prominently on the soundtrack) blaring through a stereo, giving way to the believably booming atmosphere of an outrageous house party. The full-bodied party scenes, which make good use of the entire sound field and offer some solid low end, are sprinkled sporadically throughout the film, with the rest of the runtime decidedly more reserved. Dialogue is clear except, of course, when it’s supposed to be drowned out by the ear-numbing noise of a party or, less understandably, when the pounding, percussion-heavy, score by Matteo Zingales (which is mixed at way too loud a volume) dominates. The disc also includes an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo downmix and optional English subtitles.
Extras
Well Go USA has put together a rather lengthy, but altogether not entirely enlightening, set of extras— around 75 minutes of content, all encoded in high definition. The bulk of the bonus material comes in the form of a series of interviews with the cast and crew; an EPK featurette and the theatrical trailer for “Not Suitable for Children” have also been included. The meatiest extra is the lamely-titled “Interviews with the Cast and Crew” (1080p, 58 minutes 11 seconds), which a hefty near-hour of talking head interviews with director Peter Templeman and stars Ryan Kwanten, Ryan Corr and Sarah Snook. In each segment the interviewees offer the occasional insight into their characters and the making of the movie; the problem is the overall presentation of the piece, which leaves it as little more than a crude clump of one-sided conversations meandering without meaning or form. Templeman discusses the genesis of the project, the story, and the characters; then things turn to Kwanten, who talks about playing Jonah, what he liked about the script, and working with his fellow actors; then Corr comes in to do much of the same (of course focusing mostly about his character, Gus); Snook speaks about Stevie, what attracted her to the script, etc. With tighter editing, and some behind the scenes footage, this might have yielded a nice production documentary—or at least given the content some coherent consistency. As it stands, this is a bit of a chore to get through because its just kind of aimless and only passable informative. A separate featurette, simply billed as “Behind the Scenes” (1080p, 14 minutes 23 seconds), brings in some missing comments from writer Michael Lucas, who talks about the inspiration for the story; Templeman, Kwanten, Corr and Snook also appear. There’s behind the scenes material, and film clips interspersed with the various interviews; unfortunately, the issue is almost the inverse of the above. Although slickly edited, the short runtime leaves little for substance and gives the piece the feel of an EPK. The film’s theatrical trailer (2.35:1 widescreen 1080p, 2 minutes 23 seconds) plays up the partying and sex-comedy elements of the picture, betraying the true tone in the process. The following bonus trailers are also included: - “Back to 1942” (2.35:1 widescreen 1080p, 1 minute 48 seconds). - “Dangerous Liaisons” (2.35:1 widescreen 1080p, 1 minute 42 seconds). - “General Education” (2.35:1 widescreen 1080p, 1 minute 40 seconds).
Packaging
Well Go USA Entertainment brings “Not Suitable For Children” to Blu-ray in a plain package; the single layered BD-25 is a housed in a Vortex eco-keepcase.
Overall
It’s not that the characters are unlikable, or that the performances are poor, or that Peter Templeman’s direction is unskilled. Rather, it’s precisely because of Templeman’s skillful direction that his actors give the kind of performances needed to make their characters believable and bearable. The problem with “Not Suitable for Children” is that, even with a twist of gender, it’s still a fairly familiar film; a wholly conventional rom-com, with predictable plot point after predictable plot point playing out exactly as expected. The blu-ray offers good video and audio and more than an hour of unexceptional extras. “Not Suitable for Children” is worth a look.
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