Cinema's youthful parents

I've watched two new-to-me movies this weekend (so far; it's a three-day weekend to celebrate the queen's birthday, which is actually in April). Both have been from this part of the world (one from New Zealand, one from Australia). Both came out in 2018. Both are comedies. Both have titles that start with B.

And both, coincidentally, have an actor who is way too young playing the parent of the main character.

The biggest difference? One is good, one is not good.

The good one, which I saw first on Friday night, is The Breaker Upperers from New Zealand. It's a lively, colorful comedy starring its writer-directors, Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami, and it's got a funny and original premise: The leads are in business helping people break up with their significant others, often by concocting elaborate ruses that involve costumes, faked deaths, staged cheating, etc. I knew I'd like it from the first minute of the film.

In this film, the woman on the right (New Zealand treasure Rima Ti Wiata) plays the mother to the woman on the left (van Beek). These are more or less current photos.

Van Beek is 42-43 and Ti Wiata is 55-56 (I could only find their birth years online), a different of as few as 12 years or as many as 14. Van Beek may actually look a little older than her age and Ti Wiata may look a little younger, making the problem more noticeable. I did notice it, obviously, but since it's a comedy with a bit of a zany tone, it didn't bother me. In part because both actresses are great in the movie.

The bad one, which I saw second on Saturday night, is Book Week from Australia. It's directed by Heath Davis. It's basically a cheap knockoff of Wonder Boys, only the struggling novelist with substance/alcohol dependencies who is teaching to make ends meet and impregnates one of his age-appropriate co-workers while younger women fawn over him during a literary festival where his agent is present is completely unlikable in this movie, while in the other movie he's Michael Douglas.

In this film, the man on the right (Australian treasure Nicholas Hope) plays the father to the man on the left (Alan Dukes). These are more or less current photos, and the photo of Dukes is actually from the movie.

Dukes is 52 (or was when the film was released, so may now be 53) and Hope is ... 60. He's the only one of these four actors whose exact birthday (December 25, 1958) I can get. That is possibly as few as seven years difference in age between a man and his father. Given the way this film constantly flatters the lead and suggests his desirability despite ample evidence of his repugnance, in a way that reminds me of pre-#MeToo myopia, I wouldn't be surprised if the director thought the 52-year-old could play 42. But Hope really still seems like a young man, so Dukes would need to play 32 for it not to stick out.

Given my feelings on the two films, I'd much rather offer you the poster for The Breaker Upperers than the poster for Book Week. But two things prevented me.

One is that this post comes from a place of criticism, even if I'm not bothered by the small age difference in The Breaker Upperers. If looking for a poster child (so to speak) of that criticism, the lesser movie seems more appropriate.

The other is that the poster is the best part of Book Week, and better than the Breaker Upperers poster, which actually doesn't sell the movie very well.

You shouldn't look at the rest of Book Week, but looking at the poster is an enjoyable enough experience.