Dir: Taika Waititi
With: Loren Horsley, Jemaine Clement
Kiwi kookiness comes to the fore in this indie rom-com from Taika Waititi.
Shy, geeky Lily (Loren Horsley) works in a burger bar. She has a pash for one of her customers, the equally nerdy Jarrod (Jemaine Clement), but he's too dense to notice.
Just as it seems that Jarrod's heart is destined to remain as cold as yesterday's French fries, Lily wangles an invitation to his "come as your favourite animal" party.
Once in their costumes - Lily as a shark, Jarrod as an eagle - the pair get on famously. A holiday in Jarrod's home town follows, which provides time to test whether inter-species dating is really such a good idea.
Writer-director Waititi has created a couple of ludicrous but lovable characters in Lily and Jarrod, and some of the set pieces - including a playground fight between Jarrod and an old enemy - raise a giggle. There are echoes of Bill Forsyth in the depiction of small-town life and awkward romances.
If this was a series on Channel 4, a kind of Kiwi Father Ted, it would be a joy week after week. As a movie, it begins to struggle after an hour.
The quirkiness becomes too much, and the music, which sounds like it belongs in one of those hippy-dippy ads for mobile phones, starts to irritate.
Those niggles aside, Waititi's debut feature is a charmer.
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