Horseplay (2003 film)
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Allanah Zitserman
executive
Bruno Charlesworth
Martin Fabinyi
Michael Gudinski
| Horseplay | |
|---|---|
 DVD Cover | |
| Directed by | Stavros Kazantzidis |
| Written by | Stavros Kazantzidis Allanah Zitserman |
| Produced by | Allanah Zitserman executive Bruno Charlesworth Martin Fabinyi Michael Gudinski |
| Starring | Marcus Graham Abbie Cornish Tushka Bergen Jason Donovan |
| Cinematography | David Eggby |
| Edited by | Andrew Macneil |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista International[1] |
Release date |
|
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Box office | AU$140,550 (Australia)[2] |
Horseplay is a 2003 Australian Comedy drama film, written & directed by Stavros Kazantzidis and co-written & produced by Allanah Zitserman, starring Abbie Cornish and Marcus Graham. The film is set around the famous Melbourne Cup horse race, in Melbourne, Australia.[3] The film was released on 22 May 2003.[4]
Lovable rogue Max Mackendrick dreams about winning big on the Melbourne Cup. Set in the colourful world of horseracing, Horseplay follows the chaotic life of a wannabe horse trainer as he deals with the turf, the ladies and everyone else out to get him.
Max is married to Alicia, daughter of a horse trainer. He is banned from a race track. In order to raise some money, he fixes a raise by having the wife of a jockey kidnapped.
Cast
- Marcus Graham as Max MacKendrick
- Tushka Bergen as Alicia Coxhead
- Jason Donovan as Henry
- Abbie Cornish as Becky Wodinski
- Amanda Douge as Grace
- Bill Hunter as Barry Coxhead
- Natalie Mendoza as Jade
- Terence Donovan as Mr Perlman
- Damien Richardson as Gilles
- Krista Vendy
- Alyssa McClelland as Cindy Perlman
- Jacek Koman as Roman
Production
The filmmakers said they were inspired by Jacobean theatre and Ealing comedies of the 1950s. Shooting began on 5 November 2001 and finished seven weeks later.[5]
The film was part of the initial slate of five films from the Macquarie Film Corporation, others including Dirty Deeds, The Nugget, Crackerjack and Takeaway.[6]
Reception
On the SBS Movie Show David Stratton called the film "a disappointment after the generally entertaining Russian Doll. Burdened with too many characters and too many sub-plots, plus too much violence and 4-letter dialogue, the generally excellent actors have little chance to bring the characters to life, added to which just about everyone in the film is extremely unlikable. The tone is uneven, and though there are some amusing scenes, and it's handsomely produced, this is a horse burdened with just too much baggage."[7]
