Tivo knows my taste for Australian movies and comedies so no surprised that the machine recorded Mr. Reliable (1996) for me. For which I’m appreciative since I really enjoyed the film, in which a young couple and some overzealous cops stumble into a hostage situation in Sydney during the steamy summer of 1968.

(Sorry, I was distracted by a commercial on A&E for their broadcast tomorrow of the national rock, paper, scissors championship and it took me a few minutes to recover.)

This movie stars Colin Friels as Wally Mellish, just paroled from a nine month prison stint, and Jacqueline McKenzie (yes, she’s Australian and now plays Diana Skouris on The 4400) as Beryl Muddle, a young single mother who falls for him anyway. Just days after she moves in to his place on the outskirts of the big city a couple of constables show up to arrest Wally for stealing some car hood ornaments from a junkyard as a gift for her.

Mellish isn’t interested in going back to lock up so soon though, and pumps a shotgun load in the air over the cops’ heads to warn them off. And we’re into the hostage crisis, complete with a zealous number two copper (Frank Gallacher) anxious to force them out with tear gas, a seemingly incompentant top man (Paul Sonkkil) and, since this is summer time and not much else is happening, an audience of bored Aussies who brought their own blankets and lawn chairs to be more comfortable and plenty of media coverage.

The situation goes on a bit more than I might have let it though Wally and Beryl’s wedding ceremony with the two cops as best man and witness was worth having. Finally the New South Wales premier, being a politician, finds a way out of the mess that makes sense for Wally and the government.

I have to hand it to director Nadia Tass and writers Don Catchlove and Terry Hayes, because they really saved the best for last; I was rolling on the floor laughing at the final twist. They might not have had much of a budget but every dollar was onscreen.

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