The Very Excellent Mr Dundee: Film Review

The Very Excellent Mr Dundee: Film Review

Cast: Paul Hogan, Rachael Carpani, Olivia Newton-John
Director: Dean Murphy

The Very Excellent Mr Dundee is perhaps a contender for the worst film of the year.

Paul Hogan's Crocodile Dundee first made waves back in 1986 as Mick Dundee played his fish out of water routine while in the US. A few sequels followed, but none captured the moment of the first.

In this latest, which has been pushed to Amazon Prime and spared a cinema release due to coronavirus, Hogan is back - and clearly wants to be Larry David.

Playing a version of himself, the Los-Angeles living Hogan discovers the Queen wants to knight him - but at the same time, finds himself the centre of a media furore after he accidentally flicks a snake at a teacher.

Told to keep a low profile by his long-suffering agent (played with game by Carpani), Hogan agrees - but every single move he makes turns out to be a raging misfire...

It'd be great to reveal that The Very Excellent Mr Dundee is a post-modern satire that pokes fun at Hollywood and the reputation of the crocodile hero.

But unfortunately, it's more pertinent to reveal this film is in fact nothing more than a croc(k).

A weak script that uses race and some flat punchlines to push its storyline, The Very Excellent Mr Dundee flounders on all levels; it's akin to the equivalent of a very bad dad joke, that's excruciating to endure.

As previously mentioned, Hogan's clearly inspired by Larry David's Curb Your Enthusiasm, but The Very Excellent Mr Dundee is more like a 60s UK comedy throwback that no one asked for that lacks subtlety and the smarts to exist in 2020.

Hogan seems to end most scenes smirking, as if he's the only one in on the joke. Various Aussie celebs debase themselves by appearing and even John Cleese shows up in the least likely car chase sequence ever planned for 2020. A gag over MeToo and a Harvey Weinstein moment show the film had potential but it's all been squandered for nothing more than 90 minutes of sub-par mediocrity.

The Excellent Mr Dundee is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video