Not Suitable for Children Reviews

Our Review

Aussie rom-com shows Hollywood how it's done

Adam Bub, MovieFix

Australian romantic comedies don't come along often, and when they do they're met with either bad reviews (Big Mamma's Boy) or diminishing box-office returns (Any Questions for Ben?).

Not Suitable for Children deserves to buck both trends. It's smarter, warmer and funnier than most of the shiny, soulless Hollywood rom-coms of recent years, and best of all, it's as much a guy flick as it is a chick flick.

Jonah (True Blood and ex-Home and Away star Ryan Kwanten) is a twentysomething party boy living the life in a Sydney share house with best friends Gus (Packed to the Rafters' Ryan Corr) and Stevie (Spirited's Sarah Snook).

All that changes when he learns he has testicular cancer and will be infertile if he doesn't go forth and multiply in the space of a few weeks. So begins Jonah's personal quest to become a father, whether that be with his ex-girlfriend Ava (Bojana Novakovic), a lesbian couple, or perhaps someone else right under his nose.

First-time director Peter Templeman, Oscar-nominated for his 2007 comedy short The Saviour, hits the perfect balance between humour and poignancy, making the laughs big and raunchy, the emotions real, and the overall result, a very believable affair.

Ryan Kwanten is a commendable male comic lead, but it's the hugely charismatic performance of Sarah Snook that really stands out. The Hollywood Repoter rightly called her "Australia's answer to Emma Stone", and she deserves the same success.

An unspoken star of the film is Sydney itself. Urban hipster haunts Newtown and Darlinghurst "pop" on screen like never before in all their graffiti-walled, cafe-packed metro glory.

Despite some contrived plot points (the convenient pay-to-get-in house parties, for one), Not Suitable for Children is more than suitable because it doesn't treat viewers like children.

Watch the trailer here

Your Reviews

Julz

Disagree that it was well shot and badly written - I think the reverse. Strong feel-good factor to the story, but the dark, gritty grungy look of the male characters and their messy urban environment (and hard rock soundtrack) strained the viewing experience. It reeked of student digs, which made Kwanten's quest harder to believe. Sarah Snook performed well and you could see the end coming a mile off, but I just didn't buy that he'd fall in love with her over the yummy Bojana Novakovic. Awful "pull-out" scene with Bo... if the makers were hoping for an iconic moment to rival the hair gel scene from "Something about Mary", they failed spectacularly. This was a movie not sure of its audience: as one character shrewdly observes, having a baby is the furthest thing from the minds of party-hard 20-somethings, verified by the fact that in the screening I saw, there were no 20-somethings in the audience. Rather, it was populated by 40-somethings and a considerable number of seniors! Sadly, yet another Aus movie with very few screens and a very limited run in the cinemas.

Katya

This was a well shot, but very badly written film. How you can expect an audience to care about a storyline that never, at any point defers from the main charcater's core objective. Not ONE scene in the entire film moves even slightly away from Ryan Kwanten's character's aim to father a child. Yawn. I think the film tackled its subject in a shallow and not nearly comedic enough manor, and had a predictable end. The acting was weak by Ryan Kwanten and his character was written to have more depth than what was displayed. The only saving grace was the refreshing performance from Sarah Snook and some good shots of a picturesque Sydney neighbourhood.

godza

i enjoyed it, it was predictable but liked it Ryan Kwanten was really good

anton

if u really think Darlingithurts & spewtown are "urban hipster haunts", i think yr hips have dropped down to yr ankles - this was as typically boring as all "rom-coms", Hollywood, Bollywood or Oz!! the whole thing is contrived to the point of being downright childish - suitable ONLY for children!!

Nice

This was awesome!

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