Jacki Weaver Movies

In this Australian comedy, adapted by Louis Nowra from his own play and updated from a '70s to a '90s setting, a Sydney slacker gets the chance to stage an opera, but his cast is assembled from the ranks of the mentally ill. After a long stretch sponging off his law-student girlfriend Lucy (Rachel Griffiths), college dropout Lewis (Ben Mendelsohn) fakes his way into a job doing occupational therapy with a group of asylum inmates. Although his original assignment is to stage a variety show, manic-depressive patient Roy (Barry Otto) soon hijacks the project and convinces Lewis to helm an adaptation of his favorite opera, Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti. Lewis' unlikely cast ranges from psycho firebug Doug (David Wenham) and scruffy loudmouth Sandra (Kerry Walker) to depressive, dirt-obsessed Ruth (Pamela Rabe) and self-effacing drug addict Julie (Toni Collette). Given the dearth of acting and singing experience among these players, Lewis opts to translate the piece from Italian to English and stage it as a play with only a few pieces of music. The show still proves to be more than its director bargained for -- despite the dubious assistance of his friend Nick (Aden Young), an actor/director who's currently staging his own over-the-top production of Diary of a Madman. Although Cosi reteams Muriel's Wedding co-stars Collette and Griffiths, their characters here never share a scene. The production also includes former Men at Work singer Colin Hay in a featured role, plus cameos from Greta Scacchi and Paul Mercurio (who appeared alongside Otto in Strictly Ballroom). ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

The "three" in the Australian Three's Trouble are a harried housewife (Jackie Weaver), her smug husband (John Waters), and her handsome male babysitter (Steven Vidler). To the husband, the fact that the sitter is better looking than he is does not bother him all that much. What does gall him is that the sitter is so gosh-darned knowledgeable and efficient. The husband is forced to reassess his own value in the family unit. Three's Trouble screenwriter David Williamson (The Year of Living Dangerously, Phar Lap) wisely treats his characters warmly as human beings rather than stereotypical cogs in a farcical wheel. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This Australian crime drama chronicles the life of notorious, keen witted, acid tongued 1920s Melbourne gangster Squizzy Taylor. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The "Caddie" in this Australian thriller is not of the golfing variety, but is instead the nicknamed bestowed upon the heroine. Helen Morse plays a barmaid in 1930s Sydney whose husband walks out on her. Left with two kids to raise by herself, Helen struggles to make ends meet without losing her self-respect. Her favorite customer is Takis Emmanuel, who likens Helen to an expensive Cadillac (or "Caddie"). Romance blossoms between the two lost souls. Also appearing in Caddie is ubiquitous Aussie character actor Jack Thompson. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this adaptation of an Australian play, a police officer swears that never in 23 years on the force has he had to use his gun. A rookie is assigned to him, and soon they are both bored to death with watching television and working crosswords. They get a little excitement when a woman and her sister come into to complain that her husband has been beating her. The woman desperately wants to leave him, but cannot because he will not allow her to have the furniture. This inspires the lead cop to go to the apartment and tie up the abuser while the woman takes the furniture. They then proceed to beat the stuffing out of the man until he is near death. To ensure that he keeps silent about the beating, the cops agree to take the man out for a few drinks. During their night, battered wife beater keels over and dies. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A hilarious sex romp about Alvin, an ordinary guy who works in a waterbed store in Australia. Remarkably, he is always pursued by over-sexed women, which constantly gets him into hot water. The film that created a market for Australian films worldwide. ~ Rovi