filmbufferx I avoided ANY QUESTIONS FOR BEN? on its release as I simply didn't like the title and after watching a slew of uninteresting contemporary Australian comedies I decided to give the film a miss. I watched the it this evening on a streaming channel and was surprised to find I liked it as much as I did ... which may not be saying much. I wasn't aware this was a Working Dog production (the team who made The Castle and The Dish, as well as numerous highly successful and very funny television shows) and while it lacks the laugh out loud comedy of their earlier films, it contains a conventional rom-com formula that works fairly well. Title character Ben (Hosh Lawson) is in his late twenties and although a university drop-out, he has built a high-profile reputation in marketing. Admired and envied by his friends, Ben lives in the CBD with his two best mates and spends his nights and weekends socialising and hopping from one tryst to the next. After returning as a guest speaker to his alma mater, Ben meets up with old university friend Alex (Rachel Taylor) and learns she is working for the UN in Yemen. Both Ben and Alex address the current students at their old school and talk about their careers. During question time, the students have loads of questions for Alex but no one has questions for Ben - thus the film's awkward title. This causes an existential crisis for Ben who suddenly finds himself in searching for meaning. There is a hint of Woody Allen here that reminds me of Annie Hall, Another Woman and Hannah and Her Sisters (though not at all in the same league) where Manhattan protagonists stop moving long enough to suddenly recognise that their lives are meaningless. Ben becomes fixated on Alex but finds that his old habits are hard to break as his fear to commit to anything longterm gets in the way of meaningful relationships. It is difficult to try and decipher what it is the Working Dog team are trying to say with their film. While Ben's friends are not unlikeable, there is a general lack of depth to any of them except Ben who feels increasingly isolated and alone in his angst-ridden journey even as he continually tries and fails to reach out to friends and family and connect on a more intimate level. In the end, Ben makes a decision to stay with this job and his apartment after having led a a life of transient affluence throughout his twenties. This extends to his relationship with Alex and he finally gets enough gumption to put himself on the line for love. After flitting about Melbourne hot spots throughout the film, the ultimate message of the film seems to be that the solution for soullessness can be found in a highly conservative formula of work and family values ... yet after meeting Ben's parents, even this seems hollow. Is there a deeper cynical agenda at work for the Working Dog team? Maybe, although I'm thinking this is more my reading of the film as I seriously doubt they are clever enough to pull off cynicism with a lightness of touch.The constant socialising at prominent Melbourne venues and festivals captured in fast paced montage as well as the deluge of aerial shots of the CBD certainly show off just how much the city of Melbourne has to offer - and what is shown of this beautiful southern city is not even half of what there is, especially as the film rarely wonders outside the space of the CBD to explore its rich cafe culture, theatre and arts - yet the constancy and excessiveness of shots of Melbourne seem like the film has been sponsored by a tourist information group. This might be a love letter to Melbourne, yet the film ends by ultimately showing that one has to fly to Yemen to actually find love.

OrdinaryDay The biggest problem with this movie is that it is about nothing that anyone cares about. The main character in the movie is a self-important, wealthy jerk who spends the movie treating those around him like crap and being nasty to the one girl who puts up with it.... and for some reason the movie acts like we are expected to like him.The woman keeps putting up with his crap and emotional mindgames and what have you, and rather than being a deconstruction of the typical rom-com, the movie plays it straight and expects us to cheer and leave with a smile when it reaches its all too predictable ending.None of this would make the movie unwatchable, in and of themselves, no, what makes the movie unwatchable is that it just isn't funny. Most of the so-called 'jokes' fall flat, they are predictable and considering all the cutting edge comedies released over the past few years, it makes this one just seem absolutely pathetic by comparison.Another insult is that the film has all these so-called 'cutting edge' 'hip' bands to play on the soundtrack which just becomes distracting as the songs become gratuitous by playing for way too long. Couple this with pointless shots of Melbourne city and the train line, shots which go on for way too long and serve no narrative function, and you have one of the worst movies to ever come out of Australia.If you wanted to prove to people that Australian cinema was not a joke and was not dying then don't show them this movie, as you would make your own point invalid. What a waste of potential.

joemaxwell454 When i start watching this movie, i didn't think i was going to like it, but it turn out to be well cast and the script was good for most of the movie.i thought Josh Lawson was great as Ben, along with his low attention span mate Andy and flatmate Nick. Lachy Hulme as Sam was great and gave some great one liners and tied everything together.This is a good Saturday night movie to kick back to, about a guy who has cruzed threw life, going from job to job, changing apartments every eight months, and has the glamorous lifestyle but feels incomplete.When an old classmate, Alex shows up, Ben is drawn to her, but his bad habit of not doing things catches up with him. Will Ben get the girl of his dreams or has she slipped away?

daniel_00_33 I really enjoyed this film for a lazy winters Friday night .. Of course being from Melb it's always fun to watch movies made near home, I will agree not the most amazing cinematography and the story line or way scenes were constructed didn't really flow. Some of the music tracks are not timed well.. Having said that very entertaining, made me smile and did make me want to fall in love with some good quotes about life and commitment evoking feelings of nostalgia. I guess being 28 myself can relate a lot to the story and becoming relationship focused! The dude is 30 playing a 27 yr old so it's not as far fetched as others claim..It would be great to see more Aussie films in future that go the next level, but heading in the right direction.