Russell Cheek Movies
Following up his debut, Young Einstein (1988), Yahoo Serious wrote, directed and starred in this broad comedy as the titular hero, a modern-day, fictional descendant of a real-life Australian Robin Hood, Ned Kelly. Carrying on the family tradition of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, Ned crosses the wealthy Sir John (Hugo Weaving), who arranges the sale of Kelly's coastal property to a Japanese buyer. Forbidden by the Kelly family code of honor from stealing to profit himself, the motorcycle-riding Ned decides to raise the money needed to save his lands by going to America. Stateside, his bank robbery scheme falls through, but he finds stardom as the lead in a Hollywood motion picture that might give him the money to foil Sir John's greedy plans. Ned also encounters romance with a teller, the appropriately named Robin Banks (Melora Hardin). ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Yahoo Serious, Melora Hardin, (more)
Fans of Dame Edna and her ilk may find the home-grown corny Australian humor of The Castanets right up their alley. This documentary is designed especially to please the fans of this extremely popular ten-member comedy group and contains portions of three performances in Bondi. The dramatic conceit framing these performances is that a club manager is looking desperately for some inexpensive bookings and reluctantly goes with the Castanets, who are decidedly on the cheesy (and cheap) side. Scenes from their standard nightclub act follow, including a raucous male "wet underwear" contest, and comedy music bits include a patter song I've Been Everywhere, composed almost entirely of tongue-twisting Australian place names. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
The life of legendary scientist Albert Einstein is re-imagined as a slapstick farce in this comic fantasy. Changing Einstein's country of origin from Germany to Tasmania, the film shows the scientist's eventful youth as he creates rock & roll and discovers the secret of splitting the beer atom. Director and star Yahoo Serious loads the film with slapstick comedy, absurd sight gags, and even sneaks in a romantic subplot in which Einstein courts Marie Curie. The film was a huge hit in its native Australia but a major box-office disappointment in the United States, where audiences largely ignored the display of nonstop silliness. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi
- Starring:
- Yahoo Serious, Odile Le Clezio, (more)




