Flammable Children

Elliott whizzes from montage to sight gag to flashbacks and flash-forwards, skittering sideways for frequent discursions about the family pets, or a disastrous incident with a beach umbrella.

This is a movie that had an immediate effect on me and my co-viewer. We talked about it for hours. It's still on my mind.

The trouble starts when things get half-serious. The half bit is the problem.

It's just such a shame Swinging Safari is so shambolic and nowhere near as funny as it thinks it is

As he did so winningly in "Priscilla" and 1997's unfairly overlooked outback comedy "Welcome to Woop Woop," Elliott celebrates Australian identity with genuine love while simultaneously roasting it over the coals of no-holds-barred satire and parody.

Is this outrageous comedy sexy or revolting? Elliott proves - though this feels like the least of his achievements - that a film can be both.

It's a full-throttle 90 minutes of sensory overload on '70s interiors and heinous fashion, but there's also an undercurrent of just how hard it can be for teenagers to push away from parents and find their own identity.

It is an enormously mediocre film, potentially bland and without any grace that uses comedy and a very poor narrative to address issues of nostalgia, family and adolescence. [Full review in Spanish]

In the end, what Swinging Safari lacks in the story is made up in originality and a satisfying art direction.

... doesn't offer many gut-busting laughs, but Elliott's screenplay is sweetly nostalgic even when its mayhem feels forced.