Charlie & Boots

Charlie & Boots
Directed by	Dean Murphy
Produced by	Shana Levine David Redman
Written by	Stewart Faichney Dean Murphy
Starring	Paul Hogan Shane Jacobson Roy Billing Morgan Griffin
Release date(s)	1 September 2009 (2009-09-01)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	Australia
Language	English
Box office	U.S.$2,577,044[1]

Charlie & Boots is a 2009 Australian film starring Paul Hogan and Shane Jacobson. It had the best opening weekend for any Australian film in 2009 when it was released on Father's day.^[2] The film features many small towns in country Australia. It also has a cameo by Reg Evans, who died in the 2009 Victorian bushfires before the film was released, and the film is dedicated to the victims of the fires.^[3]

Plot

Shane Jacobson plays Boots who takes his father (Paul Hogan) on a trip to fish on the northernmost tip of Australia because of something his father told him when he was a kid. Although he probably wasn't serious and can't remember it Boots decides to carry it out. They travel on a road trip from Victoria to the Cape York Peninsula in a Holden Kingswood, passing through towns like Tamworth. The film starts with the death of Gracie, Boots' mother and Charlie's wife. After Gracie's death, Boots goes to visit Charlie on the family farm, finding him locked away in the house in the dark, curtains drawn. Boots looks at a calendar on the wall with a picture of Cape York and remembers his father promising to take him fishing off the northernmost tip of Australia. As the trip starts out, Boots and Charlie seem tense but as the days pass they begin to rekindle their father-son relationship.

Their journey involves visiting different towns,hang-outs in different restaurants,visiting famous attraction . On their way, they start to reconcile and express their emotions about the recent death of Gracie, Charlie's wife and Boots's mother and the drama unfolding around the death of Ben, Boots' son, by drowning.

They even help a young 16 year old girl named Jess by allowing her to escape her boyfriend Tristan and aid her in her dream to go to the famous country city of Tamworth. The trio manage to arrive in the town, and Jess played one of her songs in the famous large hall, after passing a manager. They pushed a car owned by a Tristan out of a car park at night and end up damaging it. They flew in a small aircraft with a pilot (Roy Billing). From the craft they saw the Great Barrier Reef. The pilot continuously hit the altitude meter, making Boots feel nervous. They were dropped off by the pilot and they both waved goodbye as it left. In the end Charlie and Boots both make it to their destination, Cape York, the northernmost tip of Australia. They took their fishing rods and quoted a few sentences they travelled with on their journey. Later Jess became a famous country singer and we can see the father-son team continue travelling as they look up from their car and out at a sign on bridge looking for their next destination.

Locations

• Warrnambool^[4]
• Horsham
• Echuca
• Hay
• Tamworth
• Tenterfield
• Emerald
• Cape York Peninsula

Reception

The film received generally positive reviews with 64% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 11 reviews as of September 2009.^[5] It was called a "likeable family comedy" by Sandra Hall of The Sydney Morning Herald^[6] and a "a superbly relaxed and good-natured film." by Evan Williams of The Australian.^[7]

References

1. ^ "Charlie & Boots at Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/intl/?id=_fCHARLIEBOOTS01&country=AU&wk=2009W36&id=_fCHARLIEBOOTS01&p=.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-12. 
2. ^ ABC news, Charlie And Boots storms Aussie box office
3. ^ Pomeranz, Margaret. "At the Movies: Charlie & Boots". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2656452.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-13. 
4. ^ Sinnott, Alex. "District shines in new comedy 'Charlie and Boots'". The Standard. http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/news/general/district-shines-in-new-comedy-charlie-and-boots/1597167.aspx. Retrieved 2010-04-13. 
5. ^ Rotten Tomatoes, Charlie and Boots
6. ^ Hall, Sandra (3 September 2009). "Charlie & Boots". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/film/film-reviews/charlie-amp-boots/2009/09/03/1251570783936.html. Retrieved 2010-04-13. 
7. ^ Hoges is king of the road The Australian September 05, 2009^{[dead link]}

External links

• Official website
• Charlie & Boots at the Internet Movie Database