Review of Eagle vs Shark (2007) by Sofia T — 16 Jul 2012

A terminally shy burger joint cashier thinks she has found her perfect boyfriend in socially inept videogame store clerk Jarrod, who is desperately trying to escape the shadow of his over-achieving dead brother in ever more unfortunate ways.

Eagle Vs. Shark, as I'm sure you can tell from the DVD cover, is one of those kooky indie comedies that desperately tries to do rom-com in an "unconventional" way. Of course, all the genre has done is create a brand new set of conventions and this film ticks all the appropriate boxes.

It does have a more easy-going charm to it than many of its type, possibly because of the antipodean mentality and Lily is a very difficult character to fail to warm to. The presence of Jemaine Clement from Flight Of The Conchords will be the film's main draw, but anyone expecting a carbon copy of the cult show will be disappointed.

Its more a Kiwi Napoleon Dynamite homage that gently mocks the "alpha male" mentality and although hardly hilarious, it is always gently amusing and would make a fine date movie for Guardian readers.