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(About Our Ads) "DANNY DECKCHAIR" (2004) (Rhys Ifans, Miranda Otto) (PG-13) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Heavy Minor Heavy Minor Minor Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate None Minor None Mild Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Heavy None Minor Mild Mild QUICK TAKE: Drama: An unhappy man starts life anew when he accidentally takes flight on a balloon-equipped deckchair and literally and figuratively drops into a small town woman's life. PLOT: Danny Morgan (RHYS IFANS) is a hapless cement truck driver who's looking forward to getting away from work and his coworker Pete (JOHN BATCHELOR) and going on a camping vacation. His live-in, real estate agent girlfriend, Trudy Dunphy (JUSTINE CLARKE), however, cancels the trip so that she can work with TV personality Sandy Upman (RHYS MULDOON) to whom she's obviously attracted. That and her attitude about Danny don't sit well with him, causing him to threaten to leave. Rather than go by car or plane, however, he gets the idea to attach a series of lighter than air balloons to a deckchair. It's only a bluff, but he's accidentally sent flying away without the pair of scissors needed to release the balloons to allow for a safe return. He ends up flying across the country to the small town of Clarence where he literally drops in on the home of traffic cop Glenda Lake (MIRANDA OTTO). She used to date Sergeant Dave (FRANK MAGREE), but is now something of a misunderstood loner. Accordingly, she suddenly decides to say that Danny is her former professor and friend, and he goes along with that. It isn't long before Danny befriends most everyone in the town and is soon the campaign manager for aspiring politician Jim Craig (ANTHONY PHELAN). Back home, Trudy is enjoying her time with Sandy as well as the sudden fame that's surrounding her regarding Danny's disappearance. As the hunt for him continues to grow and spread across the country, Danny and Glenda soon develop feelings for each other, with the possibility of the truth threatening to ruin their suddenly happy lives. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Unless they're fans of someone in the cast, it doesn't seem too likely. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For sex-related situations. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: RHYS IFANS plays a hapless cement truck driver who lives with his girlfriend Trudy. When she cancels their camping vacation, he ends up accidentally taking flight to a small town across the country. There, he ends up staying with Glenda and perpetuates her lie about his identity and their relationship. He ends up falling for Glenda (and apparently sleeps with her) while befriending many in their town. He drinks some. MIRANDA OTTO plays the local traffic cop, the misunderstood loner in town who decides to lie about Danny when he literally and figuratively drops into her life. As their relationship starts to develop (and she apparently sleeps with him), she begins to lighten up. She also drinks some. JUSTINE CLARKE plays Danny's girlfriend, a real estate agent who lives with but finds him boring, especially compared to TV reporter and local personality Sandy. Following Danny's disappearance, she revels in the fame that grows around her and drinks some. RHYS MULDOON plays a TV personality and client of Trudy's who starts to fall for her following Danny's disappearance. JOHN BATCHELOR plays Danny's coworker. FRANK MAGREE plays the town's cop and Glenda's former boyfriend who isn't happy about Danny showing up and staying with her. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this light drama that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of a number of mild expletives, while some non-explicit, but sexually related dialogue is uttered. Some scantly clad people are briefly seen, while some fooling around occurs, off-screen sex is implied and a man is nude for women (they see his nudity, we don't) in an art class. Some bad attitudes are present as is some imitative behavior, the latter including a brief bit that might be unsettling for those afraid of heights. Various characters drink in various scenes (with some tipsiness present), while there's some brief physical contact (hitting and pushing). Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Pete has a beer. Danny buys some beer. We see a beer by Danny. Trudy pours herself some wine. Trudy acts somewhat tipsy. Danny buys several cases of beer for a barbeque and we then see the guys drinking some of that, while the ladies have wine. Both groups have more over the course of the party. Trudy and some of the guys then drive (after drinking) to try to follow Danny who's taken off in his balloon/lawn chair contraption. When Danny shows his friends the large tanks of compressed gas in the back of his truck, one of the friends playfully makes an inhaling sound. Danny's friends give him some beer to take with him on his balloon/lawn chair trip. Some miscellaneous people have wine. Various women have wine and various men have beer. Miscellaneous people drink. Miscellaneous people have drinks at a ball, with both Danny and Glenda having wine. Miscellaneous people have beer and wine. Sandy opens a bottle of champagne for himself and Trudy. Danny drinks shots and beer with some local guys. Glenda drinks some wine while waiting for Danny to show up. Sandy and others have beer. Trudy has wine, while others drink. Miscellaneous people have beer and then do so again. Danny and Glenda appear to have beer. BLOOD/GORE Danny has a slightly bloody cut on his shoulder and a scrape on his face following a tumble through a tree. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Trudy lies to Danny about having to cover for her boss at work (so that she doesn't have to go on a camping vacation with him). Danny overhears Trudy saying that he's one of the little people who won't amount to much. Despite being in a relationship with Danny, Trudy starts longing for and eventually seeing and fooling around with Sandy (a guy). Glenda lies to the townsfolk about Danny, saying he's a professor and an old friend. Danny also goes along with the lie. Various townsfolk gossip about Glenda and her new friend (Danny) and none seem to like her (until Danny comes around and they then change their minds). As a man passes by Maggie (who's quite buxom and shows a lot of cleavage) while handing out pancakes, he purposefully drops a double entendre by saying that she has a big stack. Dave is jealous of Danny. Trudy becomes a celebrity and lets her brief fame go to her head. We see a quick shot of Jim the local politician fooling around on a bed with a married woman whose shirt is open and shows some cleavage. They stop fooling around when they think they hear her husband. Pete tells Danny that it's okay he had a fling with Glenda as plenty of blokes do the same when they go away on business. FRIGHTENING SCENES For those scared of heights, they might not like shots of Danny way up in the air in just a lawn chair lifted by large balloons. Trying to find a way to get back to the ground while in flight in his balloon-lifted lawn chair, Danny bites one of them, but the resultant pop sends him from his chair. He then dangles from that hundreds or thousands of feet in the air before pulling himself back up. He then ends up flying into a thunderstorm and disappears. Later, he ends up in the middle of a fireworks show with the shells exploding all around him. One or more eventually hit his balloons and catch them on fire, causing him to descend rapidly toward the ground. He ends up crashing through and then getting stuck in Glenda's tree. He then falls the rest of the way to the ground after Glenda shoots him and the tree with a fire extinguisher. GUNS/WEAPONS Thinking he's an alien or something else from the sky, Dave approaches Danny with a shotgun. Danny quickly grabs it from him. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Bloody (hell)," "You old bastard," "You're a nutter," "What the hell /you think you're doing/does he mean/is this?" "(You cheeky) Bugger," "Who the hell /is he/do you think you are?" "You miserable cow," "Get a life," "Bloke," "Mate," "Damn well get it done" and "Go to hell." Upset about not going on his camping vacation, Danny mindlessly squirts lighter fluid into a lit grill (causing big flare-ups). We see a flashback to Danny's idea of a human slingshot where we see him thrust forward by some huge rubber bands (or something similar) that are stretched out between two objects. Danny inflates huge balloons with some sort of lighter than air gas and then ties them to his lawn chair in hopes of lifting off with them. Danny strips to his boxers, gets up on the side of a bridge and then dives down into the water below. After Glenda accidentally falls into a fountain, Danny and others jump into the water with her. We see a guy sitting up on top of a telephone pole. Glenda tickles Danny while he drives and briefly puts her hand over his eyes. As Glenda rides away on her motorcycle, a line connected to Danny's parachute becomes taut and pulls him up into the air (as if he were parasailing). JUMP SCENES None. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A tiny bit of comedy-based suspense music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 11 hells, 2 buggers, 1 damn, 2 uses of "Oh my God" and 1 use each of "G-damn, "God," "Oh God" and "Oh Jesus." SEX/NUDITY Trudy shows cleavage in various scenes. Danny strips to his boxers, gets up on the side of a bridge and then dives down into the water below. A waitress shows some cleavage. We briefly see a glimpse of Glenda running by inside her house in just her bra and panties (Danny also sees that). Danny jokes that Glenda even did some nude modeling for art classes in the past. As a man passes by Maggie (who's quite buxom and shows a lot of cleavage) while handing out pancakes, he purposefully drops a double entendre by saying that she has a big stack. There's talk of a local guy who wants to pose nude for the local art class and there's a bit of innuendo when a woman says that he said he has a lot to offer. We later see this guy standing in front of many female painters. He then drops his cloak and they see his full nudity (we only see his upper body and their shocked and amused reactions). He does various poses that he names, such as Salute to the Sun and The Water Sprinkler (they see it, we don't, although he's obviously making references to his penis). A woman playfully pats Danny on his clothed butt. Sandy and Trudy do some passionate kissing on the sofa. Her shirt is open (we see her bra and cleavage) and she then gets on top of him and rips his shirt open. The camera goes down a woman's clothed body as she does some sexy dancing with Danny in a bar (he's not comfortable with that and leaves). We see a quick shot of Jim the local politician fooling around on a bed with a married woman whose shirt is open and shows some cleavage. They stop fooling around when they think they hear her husband. Danny and Glenda start passionately kissing and she begins to undress him. She states that she might be a bit rusty at this and it's implied that they have sex as we then see them in bed together the next morning under the covers (we see her bare back and he's shirtless). Sandy makes some sort of comment about getting aroused. We see Trudy and Danny in bed, with her snuggling up behind him. He states that he's tired and wants to sleep. Danny comes down with his parachute and lands on top of Glenda on the street where they passionately kiss. SMOKING None. TENSE FAMILY SCENES It's suggested that Glenda's parents are dead. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT We here that Danny and Trudy are living together, but aren't married. The comment that you don't have to be a bigwig to be somebody. People gossiping about others. Becoming obsessed with fame and celebrity. VIOLENCE Danny ends up crashing through and then getting stuck in Glenda's tree when he falls from the sky. He then falls to the ground. A mother somewhat playfully smacks her son on the head. Danny punches Sandy, knocking him to the ground. Glenda pushes Danny while upset at him. Danny bangs into a tree at the end of his parachuting run (but is okay). Reviewed July 22, 2004 / Posted August 27, 2004