re:mote voices

Title: Strange Planet
Cast: Claudia Karvan, Naomi Watts, Alice Garner, Hugo Weaving
Director: Emma-Kate Croghan

the film strange planet isn't actually that strange at all, rather it is a somewhat predictable and uninspired rom-com. Billed in the newspaper as being a comedy, this Australian piece was quite lacking on the comedy front. Covering the time period of a year, the film starts with three girls and three guys celebrating new year. It then follows the two groups of friends on the ups and downs till the next new year. Along the way there are chance meetings between members of the two groups, but those kind of random events taken a certain clichéd nature in themselves. Only aiding in the knowledge that there is an inevitability to the fact that there will be a real meeting between the two groups at some point.

The three girls conveniently cover the spectrum, the business like and ambitious brunette, the unlucky in love blonde, and the ditzy new age red-head. The guys aren't as easily identifiable, though there is the charmer, the loser and the guy who looked like it was all going to work out for till his fiancé dumped him. Along the way there are drugs, one night stands, abortions, near rapes, sleeping ones way up the work ladder, dating agencies, and erm, just about everything they could think of to throw into the mix. And the results are average.

Most notable in terms of names are Naomi Watt, who appears to have taken off recently, and Hugo Weaving, who provides one of the rare memorable moments when he turns up at a Halloween party as Dracula.