Reviewed by Hemanth Kissoon
Stars Loren Horsley, Jermaine Clement,
David Fane, Taika Cohen, Rachel House,
Aaron Cortesi, Craig Hall, Gentiane Lupi
Written by Taika Waititi
Certification UK 15 | US R
Runtime 93 minutes
Directed by Taika Waititi
Eagle Vs Shark belongs to the celebration-of-being-a-geek subgenre that has wormed its way into our hearts in recent times (Clerks, Muriel’s Wedding, High Fidelity, American Pie and the upcoming Superbad), but this film owes a large debt to Napoleon Dynamite — leading men have similar mannerisms and self-belief, with a mission that drives them (Vote for Pedro!) and a loveable, dorky romance.
Lily (Horsley), quietly pretty and superficially fragile, works at Meaty Boy, a New Zealand fast food soul destroyer. Jarrod (Clement), wearer of great/rubbish fringe and outward in your face confidence, works at video game emporium Screenblaster. Lily has a huge crush on Jarrod, with the highlight of her day being his regular appearance at 12.01 pm for his lunch. She manages to blag her way into his favourite-animal fancy-dress party. Lily is one type of male fantasy — cute, totally into a dork boy and good at computer games. They get together that night, but over the course of the film he manages to undo his good fortune. Jarrod is riddled with insecurity and is obsessed with confronting his old high school nemesis, Eric Elisi (Fane), which when it inevitably happens is one of the joys of the film. Lily seems to be content in her own skin but is lonely, and has a Pollyanna-esque ability to reinvigorate Jarrod and his family.
This would have got an extra star had it not been for the feeling of forced indie-eccentricity (shell-suit wearing sister and brother-in-law of Jarrod trying to hock their second-rate products, Lily’s brother the bad impressionist, Jarrod’s best mate who is even dweebier, Dad in a wheelchair but can walk, and animated apples representing the couple) and Napoleon Dynamite. The writing and direction from Waititi suggest a talent to watch, and the music is aptly quirky from The Phoenix Foundation. There are laugh out loud moments, but the denouement is mostly predictable — saying that, though, this is still a cut above most romantic-comedies that hit our cinemas.
• Official US Site
• Official UK Site
• Eagle vs Shark at IMDb