HOUSOS VS AUTHORITY

Stars: Paul Fenech, Jason Davis, Elle Dawes, Kev Tuamata, Vanessa Davis, Kiri Schmitt, Angry Anderson, Garry Who and Barry Crocker.
Writer/Director: Paul Fenech.

Rating: 2/5

The word that comes to mind over the course of Paul Fenech’s Housos vs Authority is ‘relentless’. There are more specific adjectives that describe, in greater detail, particular elements of this big-screen adaptation of a TV show only a small but dedicated viewing audience tuned in for. But for now, let’s stick with ‘relentless’.

It is a film that, for every single second of its utterly over-stretched 108 minute running time, refuses to waste a single frame on stillness. Whether it might be for an anticipated laugh, a much-needed breath or a glimpse of warmth, Fenech’s frantic ode to white-trash Australia is one of the most…well, relentless films ever to assault a mainstream audience. And assault its audience, and just about every cow held sacred by middle-class Australia, this film most certainly does.

Fenech’s Franky, a brash, juiced-up boy-man who scores threesomes and outruns cops on a daily basis, agrees to take his posse of cartoonish, crass buffoons to Ayers Rock. Packed into an RV they have stolen from a local bikie gang (headed up by rock icon Angry Anderson), Franky’s crew consists of Islander idiot Kev (Kev Tuamata), Kev’s nympho girlfriend (Vanessa Davis) and Aussie roughheads Dazza (Jason ‘Jabba’ Davis) and Shazza (Elle Dawes). Dawes is the film’s rough diamond; underneath her vulgar facade, she takes Shazza on a (comparatively) strong emotional arc and, to her credit, somehow manages to engender audience empathy.   

There are no traditional 1-2-3 punchline set-ups in Fenech’s shock-&-awe approach to humour. Instead, you are expected to find laughs in quick cut-away shots of cops being beaten with rubber thongs, dwarf dope-dealers in souped-up wheelchairs, gangs of skeletal drug addicts who rip off anything not nailed down, the graffiti tagging of Uluru and the implication that Prime Minister Julia Gillard surfs internet-porn in her office.

None of these elements are inherently funny, but the writer/director hurls crudity and tactless imagery at his audience at such a breakneck pace, whether any of it sticks is irrelevant. One must assume that broad, big caricatures of just about every ethnicity (with particular attention paid to white Australians and their iconography) is what Fenech’s fanbase is after; in that regard, Housos vs Authority sticks to its guns with a veracity that can’t be discredited.

The mainstream media will (and has) gotten all uppity about the Fenech’s physical splat-stick  and reliance on expletives. But Bruce Beresford kicked off his career with the Barry McKenzie films; Housos vs Authority is not so far removed from those bastions of Ocker bad taste (Beresford’s leading man, Barry Crocker, makes a telling and well-judged cameo). Also, debate can rage on as to whether social satire that makes broad fun of class stereotypes is done out of respectful understanding or downright meanness; it is a stance I argue when downplaying the worth of The Castle or Kath and Kim.

Did I find Fenech’s foul-mouth assault on political correctness funny? Not really, and I’ve scored it accordingly. But it’ll play well to those that know and live the housing commission lifestyle and films that understand their target demographic are rare, so it is not without merit.

In a heartfelt gesture, the film dedicates itself to the memory of Australian enetertainment industry icon Ian Turpie, who starred alongside Fenech in the project's original small-screen incarnation.