Punching up is a valuable rule of thumb for comedians. When it comes to film and TV, however, few would insist on a blanket rule that all gags should be directed towards people of higher status than the joke-makers. Doing so would rob us of some brilliant comic characters, including the greatest of all time: Charlie Chaplin as the Tramp.
It would also expunge from existence Johnny “Spit” Spitieri, the bleary-eyed criminal and former heroin addict hilariously played by David Wenham, first in the 2003 Australian film Gettin’ Square and now in his very own spin-off. This enjoyably low-key affair has occasional laugh-out-loud moments, including one that takes place in a courtroom – like Gettin‘ Square’s funniest scene – where old mate Spit tests everybody’s patience by trying on a series of reading glasses.
By returning to the courtroom, the film risks becoming one of those “play it again” comedy sequels – but in fact it works a treat. The equation is right up there with Pythagoras: Spit + irritable authorities seeking information = hilarity.
The film begins with its shifty protagonist bumbling through Toowoomba airport, attempting to slip back into Australia on a false passport after spending many years overseas. But Spit is apprehended and plonked in an immigration detention centre, where a significant chunk of the first act takes place.
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Initially, the humour involves this thoroughly dopey and unthreatening muttonhead upsetting powerful people on both sides of the law when they learn of his return. The police want to use this “criminal mastermind” to return to a long-dormant case and deliver justice, while the criminals – including David Field’s crooked cop Arne and Gary Sweet’s kingpin Chicka – are sweating bullets, worried he’ll incriminate them.
The comedy gets edgier when director Jonathan Teplitzky enters the horrors of immigration detention centres. Spit counsels detainees on how to speak “proper” Aussie English: “fuck yeah, “shit hot”, etc. Spit, we’re reminded, is essentially good-natured. Things get a bit contrived – calibrated to pluck heart strings – when he’s reacquainted with his family, including his sister, Julie (Sofya Gollan).
I love the idea of a supporting character so great at stealing the show that they’re graduated into lead status. But I also appreciated, in Gettin’ Square, the ambiguity of not knowing who this Spit guy really was and what unusual plane of existence he drifted in from. By filling in his backstory, something has been lost, and the film-makers insist a little too much that he’s a fundamentally decent person.
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Spit still feels like a real character, however, largely thanks to Wenham’s superb performance. I love that discombobulated expression on his face – the look of a man forever struggling to compute. Wenham brings his whole body into it: he’s hunched over and weirdly postured, as if literally bent out of shape, and strolls around with a funny swagger, sometimes almost literally dancing to his own beat.
When Teplitzky focuses on sight gags, such as Spit walking up a downwards escalator or running away from goons, you can sense his grip on the material getting wobblier. The director seems to be feeling his way through these moments, hoping audiences will find this silly fellow funny. They most likely will – I know I did – but, tempo and energy-wise, the film doesn’t quite get where it wants to be; it lacks pop and spark.
Some of the funniest moments come arguably in defiance of punching up, when Spit’s responses clearly stem from his class and social circumstances. In one very amusing scene, for instance, he preposterously defends his criminal history on the grounds that the drugs he’s previously dealt – marijuana and heroin – are “natural” products, not like those nasty amphetamines and ecstasy tablets. Is the joke on him? Sort of. But we come away from the film loving Spit, and it’s clear the film-makers do too.
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Spit is in Australian cinemas now
Source: theguardian.com
