karen-loethen The first time I saw this film I so shocked with how AMAZING it is. I'm not a Toni Collette fan at all so I was not optimistic. But she is excellent in this movie.I haven't read any other reviews here but I'm sure many reviewers have dissed the film because it is not easy to watch, but the truth it, it's an absolute GEM. Rough, rude, odd, untidy, off-beat, and gob smackingly brilliant.Mental vs. Normal: a brilliant and rare absence of the instinct of conformity.Lily Sullivan is positively incandescent in her nonconformity. The casting was amazing, the story is about as unique as is possible to be, and the stunning continuous resolutions make this a super film to work your way through. Let this movie make you think. LOVED this film.

MovieHoliks About 20 years ago, I remember going to a local multi-plex and just being blown away by this wacky Aussie comedy-drama, "Muriel's Wedding", which of course introduced the world to the wonderful Toni Collette in the title role. The director of that film, PJ Hogan, would "go Hollywood" and direct the terrible 1997 Julia Roberts romantic comedy, "My Best Friend's Wedding". Blah!Well, with "Mental", Hogan is back in form! This Aussie dramedy concerns a family, like "Muriel" with a politician dad (played by Anthony Lapaglia), a somewhat ditzy mom, and five kids- sounds helluva lot like "Muriel" doesn't it??- so much so I actually thought this could actually be Muriel herself (the mom) 20 years later, who has now basically become her mother. Then, I read up on it to find out that this is actually a semi-autobiographical story of PJ Hogan, the director. Now the dad decides to hire this off-the-street lunatic (Toni Collette), who I also thought might actually be Muriel 20 years later LOL- to watch his kids. She's a knife-yielding psycho that has had some experience on the "inside" (of mental institutes) herself. But like her "Muriel" co- star, Rachel Griffith, played that "Mary Poppins"-type character in "Saving Mr. Banks", she basically becomes a "Mary Poppins" on acid for these kids...LOL And Liev Schrieber plays an especially amusing shark hunter character who develops a friendship with one of the daughters of the family. I was trying to think of what "Muriel's Wedding" character he would compare to-??Overall, like some other users have mentioned so far- if you liked MW- you will like this. Like a lot of Aussie films I notice, they start out as these wacky insane comedies with a bit of dark, off-beat humor, then they eventually evolve into something more- tackling a much more serious issue- this movie of course tackles mental illness- no surprise there- by the title of the film. Toni Collette is very good as always, and you just might walk away from this film with a little more than you expected...

P J This review may contain spoilers. First of all, to all the people saying that anybody writing negative comments about the lack of organization, plot, clarity, etc just "don't understand mental illness or living with somebody with mental illness", please stop. You are only making yourselves sound foolish. I have family members that have lost their lives due to mental illness, and it is much more complex and can be much, much darker than this movie portrays. So you yourselves are the ones that don't get it. And as for the film itself, it is like it never got out of the brainstorming phase. I say it had potential because of the talented actors, but this movie had no idea where it was going. Shaz starts off as a pothead, then they just leave that aspect out of rest of the movie. Well, until the very end, but you would thought maybe they could have a scene with the kids,father's campaign, etc. Kind of like in brainstorming, you start with an idea, but then forget about it. Also, one moment the crazy aunt seems like she is going to show remorse and change, but then she doesn't. The father seems as if he might change, but he doesn't. The two scenes at the aquarium could have just been one scene. Maybe it is titled mental because it keeps going on in circles with no true progress and that can be a challenge of dealing with mental illness, but I didn't need to spend almost two hours of my life watching a non-fiction movie with no plot that succeeds on about two of thirty attempts at humor to confirm that. I would have preferred a documentary.And as for the whole Sound of Music parody, OK. I can not make a complete connection with the overall intention of the film, except maybe to get viewers from old Sound of Music fans.

bwanabrad-1 A dysfunctional family on the Gold Coast is set to implode, due to the father's constant philandering and the mother's inability to control her five daughters. The long suffering mother played with great sympathy by Rebecca Gibney, takes to singing songs from The Sound Of Music in her backyard which horrifies her straight laced neighbors. She is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, her husband doesn't even know who his daughters are, while they in turn imagine all sorts of symptoms of their own, to hide the one essential fact that they are unpopular because the community sees their mother as a bona fide nut case. He has his wife committed to an institution, but in a move that is typical of how this illness is regarded, her condition is covered up, by saying she has gone on holiday. This explanation was a common lie, and has been used for decades, it was the same lie told about my own mother many times over, who suffered a series of severe 'mental breakdowns' throughout her entire adult life. Into this domestic maelstrom strides an eccentric non–conformist (Colette) who we instantly know will set about restoring this family unit, by using unorthodox methods. Instead of getting them to conform in a military style take over, she takes the girls on a journey of self discovery, to embrace their eccentricities and discover their inner strengths. She speaks from her heart based on her own experiences which hint at dark secrets from her past. There are people who will criticize this film as dismissing a serious topic to get a few cheap laughs, and at times the film even resorts to crude slapstick. Nothing could be further from the truth. What this film stresses time and time again is the need for sympathy, empathy and a measure of acceptance when things are beyond our immediate understanding. Collette is outstanding as Shaz, who is part life coach, part manipulator, part politician and wholly anarchic. She is given solid support by newcomer Lily Sullivan who plays the oldest of the daughters, Coral. In many ways this film is a female rites of passage film about Coral, but it is much, much more than that. A little film that proves the old adage, that sometimes laughter is the best medicine, while at the same time providing plenty of food for thought on a serious issue.