I don’t think this film will be to everyone’s taste, but for me it was pitch perfect, poised between comedy, warmth, and pathos. All the leads are perfect, but Sam Neill (as the gruff bushman Hec), and Julian Dennison as Ricky (“a real bad egg…”) are superb and very natural in their roles. I thought Julian did particularly well to depict Ricky’s faux tough front hiding his desperate need to be wanted and to belong. There’s a moment when he silently hugs a water bottle that his foster mother has put in his bed that is really moving.
Overall, it’s a very funny and heartwarming film that I’d love to watch again.
