Year: 2006
Let's get it out of the way right from the top--yes, the movie has lots of jokes about poop. The main character, Kenny Smyth, works for Splashdown(!), a company that rents out portable loos for events like concerts, fairs and festivals. So naturally Kenny, being the kind of guy he is, takes pride in his work and shares his knowledge with us, the viewers. So there is a lot of talk about bodily functions but it's handled in such away that you just smile, rather than recoil in disgust.
My wife and I were talking not long ago about how foreign films often times handle similar subject matters so much differently from their Hollywood counterparts. We both agreed that many times a foreign film will be more measured, more restrained--whereas in Hollywood, we get hit over the head with enough special effects and dead bodies to make your head spin. I would shudder to think what Hollywood would do with this topic--undoubtedly it would turn into an R-rated gross fest, complete with sight gags that would make you gag. But "Kenny" skirts the subject matter with grace and humor. Although a lot of the people that Kenny encounters in his day-to-day dealings are pretty put out at what he does, we never are.
Kenny (played by Shane Jacobson, brother of the director) works in Melbourne for the above-mentioned "Splashdown." He is just about the most amiable, even-tempered, good-hearted bloke you'll ever see on the big screen. He has a wonderful sense of humor and doesn't take himself to seriously (he has an "arsenal" of aftershaves on his sink, something of a necessity in his line of work, he tells us). He tries his best to look after his crotchety dad and his son (Kenny is separated), walking the careful tightrope that separated parents often times have to do.
Kenny goes about his day with such good, positive energy that it's impossible not to root for him. This is a character you really want to see do well. When he ends up traveling to Nashville for the International Pumper and Cleaner Expo (where he charmingly goes around introducing himself as "Kenny from Australia"), he starts to get chummy with a stewardess. Later, when they meet up again in Nashville, she's clearly interested and I was practically shouting at the screen for our guy to make his move. Kenny is everyman, except with a wittier sense of humor. His problems are the same problems we all have--not the problems of millionaires we can't related to.
I didn't even know this movie existed until a couple of weeks ago and I'm so glad I made its acquaintance. If Jacobson ended up playing Hamlet on the London stage, it wouldn't be a better role him than this one. The dialogue, the jokes, the supporting cast--everything here is dead-on target. If you watch this, I guarantee you will not see a warmer, funnier or more human comedy all year long.
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