The original Wog Boy is one of my favourite Aussie films ever. It is everything I love about the self-deprecating Aussie sense of humour, used to highlight the multicultural patchwork that makes me appreciate the country I live in. It’s definitely a product of its time, and rather juvenile as such things go, but for a comedy that pokes at ethnic stereotypes while also taking the piss out of the social welfare system and local government at large, a lot of it is as accurate today as it was when it first came out.
Its sequel, Kings Of Mykonos, is a completely different story. An example of Adam Sandler-esque paid-vacationcore, it is so fucking dreadful as to be a fair bit worse than even the most dire examples in Sandler’s own filmography. When Kevin Sorbo is the most enjoyable part of your film, it might be time to reconsider what you’re doing with your life and who you’re inflicting it on.
And this is all without getting into writer/star Nick Giannopoulos going full Lou Interligi a few years ago and taking other comedians to court because he had patents on words like ‘Wog’. I may have a strange kind of respect for having the nards to take out a legal patent on an ethnic slur that is meant to target yourself, but using that to get all litigious on people who are also trying to reclaim it is pretty dicey.
With all this in mind, seeing posters crop up for this film had me going full rubberneck. I am willing to look past the legal shit (legal disputes between comedians is something I grew up hearing about, so I’m not as phased by it as I probably should be), but I’m really hoping that this returns to the first film, rather than continuing the sad display of KOM. And thankfully, that’s exactly what’s happened here.
Rather than trying to continue the exact same brash ladies’ man routine decades after it started looking sus like with KOM, Giannopoulos as Steve seems painfully aware of his age this time around. A lot of the film has to do with him coming to terms with how much his golden years are behind him, and trying to become a family man while still staying true to himself. Both Giannopoulos and Vince Colosimo are at their best here when they’re in full contemplative dad mode, and even when they get back to some of their old ways, it’s nowhere near looking sad. There’s still some of that young charm in there.
However, I should say that Steve being on this phoenix
character arc is kind of at odds with the plot of the villain (Annabel Marshall-Roth
as politician Brianna, daughter of Raelene from the original). Wanting revenge for the
humiliation her mother went through thanks to Steve, she has set out to destroy
everything he holds dear… even though, judging by where we catch back up with
the guy, he hasn’t got much. He’s lost his car, lost his girl, lost his best
friend, he’s driving a cab for a living; Al Bundy has more to lose.
Of course, the notion of a politician just wanting to kick the middle-class while they’re down still fits in with the sharper points of the original, and this film thankfully has a bit of that edge. Steve still serves as an underdog representative for the kind of people wingnut politicians want to send back where they came from, and while some of the barbs are repeated verbatim from the original (right down to the villain’s comeuppance at the end), there’s still some resonance in that message.
Now, with all that said, I have to admit that this film isn’t as funny as the original. It’s got its moments, like Steve’s cute moments with Sarah Roberts’ Cleo, but it’s got a similar problem to Manny Lewis in how it works better as a character drama than it does a straight-up comedy. Again, in that mode, it still works out alright, but considering how much I love the original just as comedy (along with the sociopolitical stuff), it feels lesser.
Then again, one of the biggest problems with the comedy this time around comes down to two words: Sooshi Mango. They’re a comedy trio that have been brought in to play Steve’s next-door neighbours, and… fuck me dead, they did nothing for me whatsoever. I get why they’re here, as they’re essentially the new generation of the ethno-humour that Giannopoulos did back in the day, but at least he is reflecting back on it here, instead of just delivering the same shit that got old years ago like these guys keep doing. They’re not in that much of the total film, but even the moments they get are too long.
So, adding it all up, this makes for a nice comfort food sort of movie. Something for people with fond memories of the original (and possibly King Of Mykonos, although I doubt anyone that pure of heart could possibly survive in this bloody country) and who simply get a kick out of the idea of Nick Giannopoulos still going strong after all this time. Again, I’m not 100% on the guy in recent years, but at the end of the day, this is another example of that multicultural perspective on Australian life that I just plain love seeing on the big screen.
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