Danny Deckchair (2003)

Sometimes you just need a nice, clever, laid back romantic comedy to put everything at ease. Inspired by real-life experimental aviator "Lawnchair Larry", Danny Deckchair is one of my favorites of this ilk. It's also the main Australian movie I really know besides The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (recommendations, anyone?). Danny (Rhys Ifans) is an imaginative cement worker living with long-time girlfriend and real estate agent Trudy (Justine Clarke). It's about time for his two-week holiday, during which they plan to go camping, but when Trudy gets the chance to show handsome, popular TV reporter Sandy Upman (Rhys Muldoon) some properties, she lies to Danny saying she has to fill in for someone at work and can't take the time off. He goes a little stir crazy trapped at home and there's a growing friction between the couple. During a big BBQ with his friends he decides to tie a bunch of helium-filled balloons to a deckchair, just to see if it would work (and to piss Trudy off).

Turns out, it totally does work! But he forgot the scissors to help get himself down! So he soars away and is lost in a storm, landing in another county: specifically in the small town of Clarence, and more specifically in a tree outside of traffic cop Glenda's (Miranda Otto) house. Excited by the mysterious visitor, she tells the curious townspeople that he's an old professor of hers visiting for the big ball being held that week. To his surprise, Danny finds himself charming almost everyone he meets and feels special for the first time. He and Glenda also experience a growing, though halting, attraction to one another. Meanwhile Trudy goes from depessed and shocked over his disappearance to pampered and excited about the media attention she receives (including some more personal time with Sandy Upman). But of course neither of their new situations can last, and it's only a matter of time before someone finds Danny.

Gee whiz, I sure do love this movie. It's really freaking adorable. Rhys Ifans is always fantastic, and it's so exciting to see him in a lead role, especially one that's not creepy/silly/villainous. He's charming and enthusiastic, and emits that inherent aura of mischievousness. I really enjoy Miranda Otto as well, who reunites with Ifans after that Gondry-Kaufman oddity Human Nature, and is just very likable. I like how she handles the transition from lonely-by-choice and closed off to a more confident and lighthearted woman. Along with the strength of its leads, Danny Deckchair is sharply written and leisurely paced without being boring. It's another type of movie in which nothing bad really happens, but it's still a lovely and relatable story.

Admittedly there are some weird plot questions, like why didn't Glenda ask sooner where he'd come from, or why didn't she put two and two together when she saw the news report about a dude flying into the sky with balloons, or why that news report didn't post a picture of Danny. Huh. But jeez, just look past that and it's so easy to dig this movie. It doesn't make you think too hard, but definitely isn't dumb or shallow. Even Trudy, who could have easily been painted as an all-out villain, is shown to just be a woman obsessed with attention, who couldn't come to terms with the fact that her relationship had already fallen apart. For real you guys, I love this movie, and never get tired of watching it.

4.5/5