User Reviews

It is good to see that Australia is returning to the comedy idiom after such a long absence since Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla going back to the early 90's Having said that although I found it quite amusing the first half an hour was a bit flat and until it got into the silliness that most of the comedy consisted of it did not hit the mark. Olivia Newton John surprises in a comedy performance as mother of the bride and it was good to see this Australian icon back on the big screen. The absurdity of some of the situations that unfold is certainly reminiscent of Death at a Funeral but falls short of that comedy gem. Nevertheless it is worth going to see and has more laughs than some American so called comedies

A Few Best Men – CATCH IT (B+) 'A Few Best Men" is a trashy, dirty and raw Australian version of The Hangover. Mostly people will find this version very offending and generic but I think it's funny and hilarious. It's not important that everything should be high budgeted and classy. Most of the times these kind of movies make you laugh hard. The highlight of the movie is defiantly the wedding speech by the groom's best friend Kevin Bishop "Graham". The whole cast manage to do some of the most gross and dirtier scenes ever with Big Australian Sheep. Xavier Samuel is great as a groom trying to save his wedding from being a disastrous mess. Kevin Bishop literally stole the show first with his crazy Hitler mustaches and hairs and later with his Wedding Speech and as the Sheep hand raper. Even I was happy when Xavier slaps Tim Draxl, I wanted to do that the moment he appeared on screen. Kris Marshall is funny. Rebel Wilson is good but she doesn't have many dialogues or scenes as always. Laura Brent is gorgeous and Olivia Newton-John is over the top as required. On the whole, it's a crazy dirty trashy fun entertainer. I enjoyed it!

A few best men is a movie I picked up on the side from a course-mate at school. He seemed to have a taste for laugh out loud comedy like I do so my interest was to see it after he did.

Yes, it may seem cliché d, it may seem borrowed in major parts from previous Hollywood block-busters (the hangover in particular and all best men movies in general), and it may have the stereotypical characters that make up the ensemble of a groom's-best-friends kind of movie; but my is it a hilarious movie.

The story was not wholly original, even basically unoriginal in every sense of the word but its a comedy and it does hit its mark in that regard. It comes on right in your face, gets dreary and downright boring in places but picks up in spectacular fashion. If you are patient enough just as I was when I saw it, you'll get my point. As a whole, it doesn't come close to other movies of its kind in terms of cast and plot but with its laugh out loud moments, it can rival any or most Hollywood comedies and I assure you Hollywood directors could learn a thing of two from this bunch.

Its greatest strength is not in its characters, not in the cast either but in the cinematography and screen-play. Shot in Australia, it does well to capture major beautiful scenery and has good shot sequences.

There are standout and believable moments for most of its characters and their actors though most notably Xavier Samuel. This is the only other media I've seen him in outside of the Twilight: eclipse and he does a decent performance as the groom. Laura Brent was also beautiful and captivating as the bride. Look out for the best man's speech that makes good work of some intertwined British/Aussie humour delivered in a hilarious fashion it will basically crack your ribs.

It showed promise got flat at the middle and got downright hilarious in the third quarter. I'd recommend it for anyone who is a fan of dirty but plain laugh out loud comedy.

Billed as the "Aussie Hangover", this surprisingly crude comedy is more hit-and-miss than its American counterpart. There's certainly no shortage of gags – the humour comes fast and loose with both verbal wittiness and gross-out physical stunts – but plot predictability and some truly dreadful acting gradually diminish the movie's success. Whilst no-one from the cast really soars, new kid on the block Xavier Samuel (The Loved Ones, Anonymous, New Moon) acquits himself nicely as the love-struck protagonist and Love Actually's Kris Marshall is consistently funny as his immature pommy groomsman. On the flipside: Olivia Newton-John overplays her wild-child mother-in-law to the point of embarrassment, Rebel Wilson's more wooden than the Horse of Troy, and Laura Brent's performance as the bride suggests she would've been more comfortable in an episode of 'Neighbours' than in a feature film. Doesn't leave a lasting impression, but decent popcorn fodder nevertheless.

The story is as old as the hills (a guy is embarrassed by his shameless, hopeless family on a big occasion)but quite well done.

The humour is very British revolving mainly around farce and knob gags. I found it very funny and the characters frighteningly easy to relate too.

The acting is mainly good, the production is more than adequate and the casting is great.

The only problem I found was the movie didn't know where to sit. It was a bit too over the top for a true British situation comedy and went a bit zany but it didn't go far enough to compete with the big Hollywood spectacle comedies.

It was sold to me as the Austalian Hangover which is not accurate at all. For a midweek giggle this is great. I am glad I saw it but would have been disappointed if this was my Friday night.

I usually like Brit humor and, to be honest, movies that make me cringe I don't usually find entertaining. Other than the most vomitous soundtrack I have ever subjected my ears to this was NOT as bad as some reviewers have indicated. I don't know why someone that is offended by low brow humor would even watch this kind of comedy. And I find it a LITTLE bit pretentious to expect this movie to be Henry James. For what it was it wasn't too bad. It was predictable in places and , I confess to cringing more than once, but I didn't expect some esoteric mind numbing voyage when I watched the movie and in that I wasn't disappointed. As one reviewer said it wasn't "Death at a Funeral" but I don't feel I have wasted hours of my life.

The Hangover was a surprise comedy hit, so it made sense that it would 'influence' other films. A Few Best Men does its best to steer clear of too many comparisons, but four friends waking up with little memory of a groom's stag night the day before (and naturally leading to disastrous consequences) will always sound like a 'Hangover clone.' David is a Brit on holiday in Australia where he meets the girl of his dreams and subsequently proposes straight away. He therefore flies his three best friends over from Blighty to celebrate (if you can believe that anyone would marry after just two weeks!). Naturally things go wrong and lead to a string of embarrassing (and potentially relationship-ending) events that take place in Australia's 'high society' wedding.

Yes, it's a bit predictable, but it's not all together bad. I found this very watchable if you don't think too much about it. Some of the jokes you can see coming, others do come as a surprise. The characters are just about likable enough to care about and they all play their parts well.

It's not as good as The Hangover. The Hangover will always have the edge due to it being released first. However, if you fancy a few chuckles here and there, you could probably do worse.

This film isn't worth watching it for free. The characters were bland, especially the four main guys who apart from some small gimmicky characterization were practically written the same. The few secondary cast members suffered even greater.

The jokes led no where. It was almost like watching a 2 hour sketch show with mediocre jokes. Things like having one of the mains look like Hitler, or getting stuck wearing a a bondage mask etc., were built up and then given a one minute pay off and then forgotten about for the rest of the film. It felt like the filmmakers were constantly stuffing some set of events in my face and saying, "See... hilarious, right?"

To make things worse, the entire film seemed like a love letter to Australia, as if to squeeze every piece of Australian nostalgia and cultural icons they could.

Olivia Newton-John's character was the only one to have any form of comedy to actually have a pay off and carry through. I'm actually left wondering why any of the profile actors in this film would have taken the job apart from a pay check.

Australian Film Industry; one step forward, three steps back.

This film tells the story of a holiday romance quickly going into a marriage marriage. The groom's four best friends become the best men n the wedding which turns out to be a prominent wedding of a politician's daughter. However the best men do not behave, and the wedding is almost off.

I could not believe how funny the story is! It looks vaguely familiar to "The Hangover" but with a bit of difference, because the hilarity happens during the wedding instead of before the wedding. Just as you think the wedding cannot get worse, it gets worse and worse. It is super crazy funny.

Will keep it short...

I enjoined it. It goes to that pack of wedding flicks that are not boring for regular Joe. It's not high budget or Hollywood as hangover but tbh it has some similarities with "hangover"

But I'd say it's not movie to go watch on big screen - at least not me - but it's good movie to watch when you home and wanna spend some good time. my vote is 7 as comedy (compared to all other movies it would be 6 but in Comedy category it's 7)

Well hope I helped

PS. can someone name that artist singing on that wedding? or is it just actor? - if ladder then who sings original? thanks.

I use IMDb a lot for reviews and ratings as much as for info about the movies. In fact for years I've been using it as a non-member. It took this unbelievably awful movie to make me sign in and write my first review ever. There is nothing redeemable about this rubbish. The characters are awful, the acting horrendous, the directing abysmal, the plot ridiculous. This is supposed to be a modern, funky British slapstick with a good dollop of Australian blunt humour, but what it turns out to be is a pathetic, amateurish, cringe-worthy waste of film. Whatever you do, never watch this movie. Every copy needs to be wiped and all records of it expunged.

You meet the girl of your dreams, and with the feeling being mutual, decide to fast track the romance into marriage. It's one of the big decisions in life, and so you engage some help from your pals, who happen to be some of the most disorganized bunch ever, unintentionally lining up what would be one of life's most memorable events with a series of mishaps and accidents that are just waiting to happen, from run ins with drug dealers, abuse of drugs and drink, and an animal featured somewhere as well. No this is not The Hangover films, although at first glance A Few Best Men may seem to tread on similar territory.

Unlike the American films that focus on extreme shenanigans, A Few Best Men may deal with similar wedding blues in comedic fashion, but was rather a bit more restrained in its grossness, although toilet humour is something staple that is never too far away and utilized when there's a need to for maximum effect. This Australian production follows a more British route with witty repartee, and quirky, zany characters peppering the landscape, with probably the only sane people in the entire film being the groom David (Xavier Samuel) and his bride Mia (Laura Brent).

The titular characters refer to David's best mates Tom (Kris Marshall) who's usually the catalyst of problems with his indifferent attitude, Graham (Kevin Bishop) the somewhat dim witted follower, and Luke (Tim Draxi) who still can't get over the break up with his ex. Together they lend support to David as his best men for his wedding, making that round the world trip from England to Australia. Mia on the other hand comes from a political family, with a senator for a dad in Jim (Jonathan Biggins) whose more than proud to turn his daughter's wedding into political gain, wife Barbara (Olivia Newton-John, probably the largest name in this ensemble), and sister Daphne (Rebel Wilson last seen in What To Expect When You're Expecting). With worlds so different colliding together, sparks fly in similar, slowly but surely fashion to Meet the Fockers, with a scene being somewhat of a lift off The Hangover when the stag's night out turned into one big blur.

A Few Best Men sees the long awaited return by director Stephan Elliott, who did the acclaimed Priscilla Queen of the Desert. And I have to admit unabashedly that I'm somewhat of a fan of writer Dean Craig's work, after what he did with Death at a Funeral, dealing with something similar with family and friends' shenanigans standing out during life's ceremonies, and in a way this film seemed like a spiritual companion to his earlier work for the way it encompassed rip tickling moments over one of life's major rituals. It's basically Murphy's Law put on display here, with everything that can go wrong actually do go wrong, with a couple of surprise (some may argue convenient) twists thrown in for good measure.

The soundtrack is also noteworthy in the film, consisting of mostly evergreens and oldies from the 60s and 70s, and having Olivia Newton-John lend her vocals as well. In fact, her character becomes what would be the live wire of the film as it wore on, together with Kris Marshall and Kevin Bishop drawing the loudest of laughs thanks to their subplot involving their quest for weed from which everything got intricately tied to no thanks to their being stuck with contraband drugs, and being quite inept in helping the groom settle and solve the mess they got everyone into.

If one is game for ensemble films and buddy type ones where the inevitably lessons extracted will be themes on brotherhood, friendship and family, with lots of laughs thrown in from good measure, then A Few Best Men would be your choice this week during the summer season breather in between blockbusters hitting the cinemas. Highly recommended!

Appealing, anarchic comedy along a trend we saw a lot of in the early 2000s (credit to Bridemaids). Another wedding is almost ruined at every turn as the bridegroom and his buddies inadvertently get into increasingly transgressive, crass and embarrassing circumstances.

A lot of it is that special kind of humour that is about making you wince first and laugh second but if you have the stomach for it, you have a quite a ride on your hands.

Having been a major fan of Priscilla and of Death at a Funeral I had some high hopes (justified I think) so this film A Few Best Men was a total surprise. Not a good one unfortunately. Acting was ordinary or below par for most parts. The bride was especially forgettable. Gags not funny, I am afraid I did not laugh once. It seemed to be trying so hard to be another Death at a funeral - to use a wedding was lacking imagination. So bad I actually felt compelled to write my first ever review!

Apart from the Blue Mountain views there is little to recommend the film.

Overdone, not a shred of originality, dull, too long, I am not sure what else to say to fill the required 10 lines of review. You guys are great talents, please don't let this film be all you can deliver to us.

This film ended up being predictable, boring and disappointing. Very Disappointing

It went from not-too-bad to downright awful, the longer the film went on, the worse it got.

Wedding disaster movies are usually over exaggerated but this one takes the cake, completely stupid and lacking in imagination. The friends are nothing short of morons, and the rich family would never have gone along with something so ridiculous.

For those of you looking for a romantic comedy, avoid this at all cost, definitely not worth your time.

I made it through an hour before I couldn't stand it anymore, and went and sat in another room.

I was going to rate this movie a nice big 1 but in its defence, I did laugh once (although it may have been accidental) so I upped it to a 2. If you had the choice of being tortured or watching this movie, choose being tortured. You will enjoy it more. Or.... Maybe the torturers play this movie to you while you're being tortured. Either way, pretty much any movie is better than this and I feel very sorry for the actors starring in this movie.

We should be ashamed of our film industry for turning out dreck like this. Poorly written, poorly acted, exploitative and just cringe-worthy. Every stereotype about Australia, men, women, gay and lesbians, the rich, the poor and everyone else was abused in this 'comedy'. I must put a disclaimer in that I walked out of this cinematic abortion after only 30 minutes. I have never done that. My hatred was compounded by the laughter from the everyone else in the cinema. Clearly this is a lowest common denominator movie and the clientèle had chosen wisely. I don't know why I am complaining, I knew it would be this bad. The ads made that clear, but there was nothing else showing that my friend and I hadn't seen. Oh I am mad! I am furious that this movie has made 2.5 million in its first week, yet J. Edgar, a truly masterful film, doesn't crack the top 10.

A Few Best Men mixes The Hangover with Meet the Parents with unhilarious results. At least the film has nice covers of some old songs. So let us also throw in The Wedding Singer as well.

David (Xavier Samuel) visiting from England meets Australian Mia (Laura Brent) on holiday and rapidly get engaged.

David goes to his wedding taking his three best friends wit him at Mia's mansion in the Blue Mountains in Australia where Laura's Dad is a big time conservative politician and very straight laced.

Tom (Kris Marshall) is the cheeky one, (Kevin Bishop) is moronic and Luke (Tim Draxl) feeling down after a break up.

The trio accidentally end up getting a dealer's bag of cocaine and then with some shenanigans with a sheep. At the wedding there are all sorts of escapades including a rolling boulder causing havoc, the ripped off drug dealer also crashing into the wedding and the inept best man speech which still lazily refers to Australians being convicts.

Only the bride and groom seem to be normal. Rebel Wilson as the bride's sister gives it some spirit and a very smoothed Olivia Newton John snorting cocaine stops it being a total fail. The film goes all out for gross humour but it is predictable and risible.

Whilst I found myself laughing during this film, and feeling good for having seen it, I am frankly shocked by the crimes committed in review number 2. The script is not sharply written, by ANY stretch of the imagination. Frankly, what was clearly intended to be comic dialogue is in essence nothing more than obscenities. I walked into the cinema expecting some refreshing British wit and humour and all I received was nob-gags and slapstick. Don't get me wrong, American style humour, whilst different, is very funny when written well, but this is not on that level. My laughter was forced for the duration of this film, and frankly I expected more from the likes of Kris Marshal and Kevin Bishop. And there was so much potential for Australian cultural humour, even of the crass variety, but that well is left untapped throughout. And as for the supposed 'realism' that some reviews claim, this is possibly the most unconvincing comedy I've ever seen! Since when can positions in the Australian parliament be inherited? That said the film is rather heart-warming at times, with the central couple having a genuinely convincing chemistry. And Olivia Newton John provides a frankly staggering comic turn. But on the whole this film fell short of expectations, and is just a bit disappointing. By all means watch it if you're in the mood for cheap laughs, of which there are plenty, but don't go expecting British comedy gold because you simply will not get it.

There is comedy in a mishap, but this is one of those films that overdoses on mishaps. Not one thing goes right and there is a terrible predictability followed by one awful situation after another. Even Kris Marshall and Olivia Newton-John are disappointing and sadly unlikable.

Funny isn't it how one film can illicit such varied responses from different people? But of course those who dislike it most yell the loudest - yes I'm looking at you nicakpopolis and co - I'm sorry that you're so smart and the rest of the audience who were laughing are such idiots. Truly. Just because you didn't like a movie, it doesn't make the rest of us fools. Ego out of control. And if you didn't even watch the whole thing (chrisliz) then you probably shouldn't review it. And if you didn't like the trailer why would you see it anyway!? Aren't people funny? Anyway I reckon this movie is OK. It doesn't pretend to be anything it isn't. If you're after a bit of laugh out loud escapism this is for you (and if it isn't...stay at home or see something else and save us all from having to read your bile ridden comments). Cheers mark

This is one of those films that you know what's going to happen and you know it's going to be rather dire but you watch anyway and it's really funny. Really gross in places, horrendously dirty but it's actually pretty good. Wedding jitters, family miscommunication, reception cocaine fountain, an errant drug dealer, a runaway sheep, a suicidal best man, a lactose intolerant friend and a house on a cliff-edge... and if that doesn't make you want to see it for laughs, well, you're missing out. Good performances by everyone especially Xavier Samuel and the brilliant (also in Death at a Funeral) Kris Marshall. Rebel Wilson was a laugh and her indubitable self and Olivia Newton-John put in a star turn as the put-upon-wife-turned lush. She is fabulous!

Not for you if you are sensitive to jokes of a sexual nature, bad language, or physical humour involving laxatives. Laugh out loud, cringeworthy, funny. Enjoyed it even though I had to close my eyes a few times.

A Few Best Men assembles an impressive cast but they're wasted on a script with unlikeable characters and cheap and juvenile humour.