IndieWeb Movie Club: “The Castle” (1997)

This month's IndieWeb Movie Club is The Castle (1997), and Zachary wrote the introduction post here. Spoilers will follow in this post!

The movie is an Australian comedy about the Kerrigan family whose house is set to be seized (along with those of their neighbors) in order to expand an airport. After a long string of legal mishaps, they win their case against the government and the airport's corporate backer, and are able to keep their home.

The Kerrigan family is portrayed as “unsophisticated” and clueless, and their house not particularly “nice,” with the humor often coming from the disconnect between this and how happy they are with their house and lives.

Reactions

I watched this with my partner who works for the courts, and it was fun to see their reaction to the legal proceedings. For example, the incompetent small-time lawyer Dennis Denuto the Kerrigans and their neighbors bring on for the case frantically shuffles through his notes for uncomfortably long stretches; says he never learned Roman numerals (while trying to read the Australian constitution and devise his argument in real time); and repeatedly argues that the eviction goes against “the vibe” of the constitution. My partner commented that there sometimes really are “vibes-based” arguments made, and that they will definitely be using the phrase “do you have any legal precedent to support ‘the vibe’?”

I don't get around to watching a ton of movies, and this was a fun, lighthearted one to help break out of that. I did start to find the humor repetitive and a bit of a bummer for a stretch in the middle, although the ending was uplifting—the family and their neighbors prevail, set a legal precedent, and Lawrence, the retired Queen's Counsel lawyer who ultimately takes and wins their case becomes a family friend.

As a counter-example to illustrate what I think bummed me out, I like Bob's Burgers and the similarly-animated The Great North. Both shows have quirky families whose oddities are a source of comedy, but in these two shows, I feel like I'm laughing with rather than at the families. The funny thing about the families is that they're odd in a way that's just different rather than something I feel like I'm supposed to look down on. They're also self-aware—the Belchers (Bob's Burgers) and the Tobins (The Great North) seem well aware they're odd, and they don't seem to have a problem with that.

The narrative of The Castle ultimately wants me to root for the Kerrigans, but it did get to the point that laughing at them started to feel mean-spirited. As their fortunes improved though, that feeling went away again, and overall I enjoyed the film a lot—just an interesting contrast I noticed with other things I like.

Wrapping Up

I enjoyed participating in a group blogging activity. I haven't done a blog carnival or other such thing before. I'm planning to do more of these—hope to see you then!