Something to watch tonight: Tuesday 8 April
Kenny (Jacobson, 2006)
Yesterday, I was asked to lend my analytical brain to RNZ’s Midday Report show to talk about the most recent Netflix price increase.
In case you missed the news, the price of the cheapest monthly subscription to Netflix is going up to NZ$17.99 (in March last year it was only NZ$12.99) with the other plans rising in similar fashion.
Only a couple of days ago, I complained that Netflix has very little to offer classic movie fans and doesn’t feature anything much that isn’t already well-known. Today, I thought I should test that theory using Netflix’s own comprehensive tagging system – I searched for “hidden gems”.
This resulted in 42 offers, including two Best Picture Oscar-winners and several other multi-award winners, so I’d suggest that if these are hidden then there’s no one to blame except Netflix.
Anyway, because we are just a minor sub-branch of Australian Netflix a few of the hidden gems are from across the Tasman, including this absolute winner from 2006:
Films like Kenny are usually called “mockumentaries” for two reasons: they appear to be documentaries but they’re not really and (in films like Spinal Tap and TV’s “The Office”) they usually “mock” their subjects. This is different.
In a delightful first feature by the Jacobson Brothers, porta-loo plumber Kenny Smyth is a paragon of a man: he loves his family; takes pride in his job; and finds the bright side of situations that would force most of us to jump head first in to a bath of deoderant. The film follows our hero (played to perfection by Shane Jacobson) through a few weeks of an event-filled Melbourne spring, culminating in the big one: over 125,000 people at the Melbourne Cup. While he performs his (literally) thankless tasks, Kenny stoically puts up with an unreliable ex-wife, a co-worker with diarrhoea (of the verbal kind) and a father who is one of the great screen monsters of all time (played with an admirable absence of vanity by the real Jacobson pére, Ronald).
Kenny is a philosopher-plumber, a bard of the bathroom, and has that mastery of the vernacular that Australians seem to excel at: “Mate, there’s a smell in here that will outlast religion!” is my favourite but there’s plenty more.
Kenny is my number one film of the year and the funniest Australian picture since The Castle. Highly recommended to anyone who has ever taken a dump (or had a Henry-Pissinger).
Also reviewed in that Capital Times column from November 2006: Aussie WWII drama set in the Pacific, Kokoda, and Russell Crowe getting a paid holiday in Provence with Ridley Scott – A Good Year.
Where to watch Kenny
Aotearoa: Streaming on Netflix
Australia: Streaming on Netflix, Prime Video or Stan
Canada: Digital rental
Ireland: Streaming on Prime Video
India: Not currently available online
USA: Streaming on Prime Video
UK: Digital rental