Maybe it’s one of those things better left Down Under or maybe it’s something that should have remained under even when it was exclusively Down Under, but this new movie by Aussie auteur Yahoo Serious is a frenetic mishmash of half-baked ideas and nonstop physical and prop-oriented comedy that, in a word, could be described as underwhelming. Not familiar with Yahoo Serious? A thumbnail of his career would point out that in 1988 he became the first Australian to write, direct, produce, and star in a feature film. That film was Young Einstein, which presented the untold story of Albert Einstein, a Tasmanian apple farmer who not only discovered relativity but also invented rock & roll. That was followed by Reckless Kelly, a comedy about a descendant of famed outlaw Ned Kelly, who accidentally becomes a Hollywood movie star. Now comes Mr. Accident, a comedy about … hmmm … this one’s tougher. Serious plays Roger Crumpkin, an accident-prone maintenance man at an egg factory, which is secretly infusing all its eggs with nicotine. During his recreational hours, Roger, of course, is a bust with the ladies until he falls for the ditzy Sunday Valentine, who has been convinced by others that she has no smarts, although her hobby is searching for extraterrestrial signs of intelligent life in the universe. Conveniently, Roger discovers the hubcap of a spaceship embedded in an excavation site, which brings him closer to Sunday, who also happens to be the ex-girlfriend of the nefarious egg-factory boss. Along the way, Roger’s escapades include things like falling out of windows, placing a hot iron to his face instead of a telephone receiver, car crashes, assorted fights, and other mishaps. Hell, even before the movie’s opening credits are over, Roger has both flooded his apartment and set it on fire. As you may surmise, plot is a rather freeform, stream-of-consciousness affair, a bothersome intrusion into the business of making physical comedy and sight gags. It’s easy to see that Serious counts among his heroes such masters of physical humor as Chaplin, Keaton, and Benigni. Unlike them, however, he is unable to create pathos or emotional connections for his character. He is the comic equivalent of a bull in a china shop, wreaking mayhem and destruction with every move, but all of it random and unchanneled and unstructured. Occasionally, it’s funny although that’s rare and, once again, completely random. With his shock of wild red hair, Yahoo Serious seems to most resemble Carrot Top — only without the wit.
This article appears in December 8 • 2000.
