Director: Rob Sitch

Starring: Josh Lawson, Rachael Taylor, Daniel Henshall, Felicity Ward

Screening: Charlestown, Glendale, Newcastle

Rating: **

CASTING a critical eye on an Australian movie is not simply a game of picking on tall poppies. It’s really a matter of looking at the few precious poppies we produce.

When somebody spends a few million bob making a movie about Australian values in an Australian location with local talent, we shout hooray and sit down with a big box of popcorn and a stiff drink to take a good look.

Unfortunately, the first five minutes of Any Questions For Ben? is practically unwatchable, a cavalcade of indulgent behaviour moving way too fast for a viewer to grab a hold of any rhyme or reason.

Fair enough, it gets better from that point on, but the tone is set: we’re not supposed to find much depth in the characters here, just ride with the one-liners, the laughs, the fast cars and pretty girls and parties.

The star of the show, Ben (Josh Lawson), is a likeable bloke who’s a marketing wizard making pretty good dosh. And he loves to party!

But he doesn’t have a clue about growing up, about where the next chapter in his life is heading.

A couple of his best friends, Nick (Daniel Henshall) and Emily (Felicity Ward), lead by example as they decide to move in together and get married. They are not pushy or condescending, they’ve just made a decision about what comes next and it seems so natural.

Josh’s fun times are moving so fast that, while he takes note when the beautiful Alex (Rachael Taylor) crosses his path, he fails to follow up the opportunity to engage her.

Eventually, he sees the error of his ways and attempts to make up for lost time.

Lawson and Taylor are great leads, naturals in front of the camera. Taylor is most alluring, a dead-set star who is only going to get better and better. Lawson plays the comic lad role so well, he’s on the verge of a major hit.