CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 8/11/04

Lighthearted

By Den shewman

This story about a man who flies a lawn chair to a new town and a new life doesn't break any rules, but it'll warm a few hearts.

Danny Deckchair

Jeff Balsmeyer (also directed)

Danny Morgan (Rhys Ifans) is floating aimlessly through his Australian life until he discovers that growing-ever-distant girlfriend Trudy (Justine Clarke) (a) thinks that she's outgrown him (he's one of the "little people" to her), and (b) is moving down the path toward an affair with handsome local sportscaster Sandy Upman (Rhys Muldoon). This pushes Danny into his latest harebrained scheme: attaching a bunch of helium-filled balloons to a deck chair and floating off into the night. After weathering (ha!) lightning, helicopters, and a friendly bird, fireworks drop Danny into the small town of Clarence -- and into the backyard of mousy parking patrol cop Glenda (Miranda Otto). Here Danny can start fresh, and soon he's shaved, taken a bit more charge of his life, and fallen in love with Glenda (who's coming out of her shell herself). Now if only no one discovers that he's really "Danny Deckchair" everything will be fine…

A few hours before yesterday's screening, a certain Medusa-maned friend of mine lamented how she hates the fact that ever reviewer will be using the words "quirky" and "charming" to describe this movie. Well, I thought Danny Deckchair was quirky and charming. And while I'm at it, let me toss a few others at you: warm, human, spirited, friendly, and good-hearted. And I'm not ashamed to use them: they all perfectly describe this small, simple Australian picture that's not trying to make any statement greater than simply, sometimes it takes time to find out how, and where, you fit in.

Hollywood's version of this story (the seed of which was based on the bittersweet tale of a real-life chair flyer) would have been more processed; there would have been more laughs, and more tears, with the lines more clearly drawn. But, as evidenced by a climactic break-up scene that ends with the man asking the woman, "Are you going to be all right?", writer-director Jeff Balsmeyer is more interested in creating likable characters than artificial drama. (If only the makers of The Majestic done the same, how history would have been writ different.)

Balsmeyer's script is a gentle mix of humor and drama, neither of which are laid on with Hollywood's usual trowel. He draws his characters quietly, such as covering Glenda's dating history in two small moments: showing everyone in town shocked (and secretly delighted) that Glenda has a man staying with her, and her line just before she and Danny make love, "I might be a bit rusty." The other characters, from starry-eyed Trudy to Glenda's crushin' co-worker, are all just a few degrees to the left or right of your friends and neighbors. We all know, and maybe have been (or still are), lost souls looking for a place to land, quiet spirits who keep their adventurous dreams locked away inside (as Glenda does with the motorcycle on which her parents crisscrossed the continent). First and foremost this is Danny and Glenda's story, and it's like watching two new friends fall in love. Nothing earthshattering, nothing picture perfect, just good people finding each other. Just like you hope happens in real life.

Like Danny Morgan himself, Danny Deckchair is an innocuous and friendly mate, not nearly as sharp-edged or processed as some might have it. But people who like the movie will, like Glenda and the town of Clarence, take Danny to heart.

Looking forward to your email, Colleen.

Danny Deckchair
Lions Gate Films
Rated PG-13; 90 min.

Opening in New York and Los Angeles.
Opening nationwide Friday, August 27.

Buy tickets now

Buy the poster

Den Shewman wrote a script review for Creative Screenwriting five years ago, and somehow ended up as editor-in-chief of CS Daily. Yet he co-wrote an episode of The New Adventures of Robin Hood (which, according to the producers, was the #2 show in France at the time) and never ended up as executive producer of Maid Marian: Bring It On. More proof that life is not fair.
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