Review of Special Correspondents (2016) by Phil T — 02 May 2016

With Netflix's recent foray into the movie production business, we've seen some gems such as Beasts of No Nation, that really struck a cord with viewers due to it's raw and gritty script that truly brought across the savagery of war and at the same time, some utter duds, like the ridiculous 6, that had a almost non-existent plot.

Special Correspondents, I feel falls somewhere in between those two movies, with a script that fails to make full use of the setting and the chemistry between the two main actors, Eric Bana and Ricky Gervais. Not only so, it also employs a lazily written deux machina, which provides some laughs at the expense of the coherence of the script.

At some point, it seems that the writers gave up on making sense and instead just chucked whatever slapstick material they could come up with into the movie, resulting in some lack of coherence within the actual script itself at some points. This results in Gervais sometimes finding himself sidelined by Bana's potrayal of local celebrity wannabe Frank.

If you're looking for a movie to Netflix and spend a lazy afternoon away, this is the movie for you. It'll give you a good laugh and nothing more.