Review of Any Questions for Ben? (2012) by Joey K — 10 Feb 2012

An Australian film that travels a simple route from A to B without a single detour, Any Questions For Ben? succeeds purely on the charm and chemistry of the two leads Josh Lawson and Rachel Taylor. Surprisingly short of laughs, it plays safely within its romcom perimeters with not a single surprise, but is pleasant enough and a good advertisement for the city of Melbourne.

The story can be summarised in one line: Ben is a twentysomething highflyer who has coasted through life with no goals, but a chance encounter at a school reunion eventually leads him to appraise his life.

Characters on the whole are warm, engaging, and mostly one-dimensional, but dialogue zips along with a few one-liners buttressed by a strong soundtrack. It's a tad long at almost two hours, straining to pad out the running time, but one never feels soporiffic as Ben's and his friends' lives unfold on screen.

A few overly grandiose situations (The Australian Open tennis, bungee-jumping in Queenstown, for example) threaten to derail the believability train but that can be overlooked due to the strong performances from all involved.

Nice cameos from Alan Brough, Ed Kavalee, Felicity Ward, Nicola Barry et al almost makes this a Thank God You're Here reunion, but thankfully they all play their limited roles well. One small negative that played on my mind was Daniel Henshall as Ben's flatmate; his physical appearance is far too reminiscent of his portrayal of Snowtown serial killer John Bunting, and each time he smiled it gave a sinister vibe that was hard to shake.

Overall though, this is a decent attempt at an Australian romcom. Not memorable in any way but a good way to spend two hours rooting for the protagonists.