User reviews

If you are wanting an easy, enjoyable, Aussie road trip movie, spend 2 hours with Charlie & Boots. The movie moves along at a nice pace, has tender moments and plenty of laugh out loud moments. It also has some beautiful scenery and cinematography.

Don't go into it expecting any kind of Hollywood movie, it is a true Australian movie, understated, funny and overall very entertaining. Most Australians will be able to relate to something throughout this movie..

We were very pleasantly surprised and glad we watched it.

Keep watching until the credits end.

I enjoyed the movie. I don't see anything wrong with showing the countryside of Australia and I thought it did a better job of that than the film 'Australia' which had CGI images involved, showing landscapes that didn't even exist.

This movie was full of old jokes that we've heard before but put into virtually small skits, the towing scene (We've heard that joke before) and the aviation scenes. Roy Billing was rolling them out one after another. I've heard them all before and even Shane Jacobsen gets in on it after Billing delivers another. We see Shane in the back seat start to smile. He gets it.

The Australian movie scene desperately needs people who can tell a good story (or any story)and use the genuine Australian country side and its characters as a back drop. Enough of the boyfriend girlfriend relationship studies that we get plied with year after year slowly numbing us to death. Thanks Shane and Paul and Co. OK, its not a film masterpiece, but you're starting to head the right way. Middle Australia is starving for stories set in their own country that will entertain. And we can relate to these events. I found it it to be a reasonable study of the relationship between a father and son traveling across the Australian countryside. Recommended.

The iconic (in Australia) Paul Hogan, Crocodile Dundee himself, returns to the big screen in a fairly good comedy/drama which is essentially a road trip that tourism Australia would relish. Charlie is grieving the loss of his wife and is taken by his estranged son Boots, on a trip up to north Queensland. Their ambition is to go fishing at the most northern tip of the country in Cape York. Along the way through Victoria, into New South Wales and up in Queensland they visit many famous locales. The banter between the two is great, they have good chemistry. Shane Jacobson as Boots is best known as Toilet cleaner Kenny, a popular Aussie comedy of the same name There is some amusing, but obviously set up comical moments, especially involving one very butch female truck driver and her attention towards Charlie. Over all, seeing this with a big crowd as I did will help the ambiance of the laid back jokes. There are some serious moments, but not many beyond sentimental family issues. The young hitchhiker is the best inclusion of the story. A travelogue of sorts disguised as a movie, but stay on during the credits for a sly remark from Hoges when crossing the Sydney harbor Bridge, a place where he once worked as a painter.

This movie made me smile. I like smiling. It made me smile for a lot of reasons. 1. because its a good heartfelt comedy that we seem to have forgotten how to make over in Oz. We used to be so good at it too. damn you government film bodies! 2. its great to see Paul hogan back, he's a likable guy. this is his best film since croc dundee(which isn't hard). Kenny the portaloo guy makes me smile too. I'd love to get a hug from a big lovable bear it would make you smile. Everyone in this is doing a great job, in front and behind the camera. we are soooooo good at comedy, and internationally people love our comedy. Why the hell aren't we making more comedy? buy it!

I saw this film on a Qantas flight to Sydney last week. It was about a grown-up son's (Shane Jacobson) efforts to re-establish bonds with his dad Charlie (Paul Hogan) after the unexpected death of his mother. To do this, he brings his dad on a long road trip in order to fulfill a long-time promise to fish at the northern tip of Australia's west coast.

We have seen plenty of this prodigal son stories, as well as road trips, so the unique quality here for me is the Australian background and characters. It is only OK for me. The actors are both very good. I have not seen Paul Hogan since "Crocodile Dundee" and here he is as an elderly cantankerous dad. It was just so apparent that the two actors could never be father and son in real life because of they do not look a bit alike.

The best parts of the film were those with young hitch-hiker Jess charmingly played by Morgan Griffin. She is a welcome (and pretty) addition to their road trip. Too bad her screen time is not longer than it was.

A little surprised to see the rating out of 47 people fairly high. (do we get paid for this?) I'd also like to understand why there are 47 votes and only 2 comments? hmm. For me the movie started quite well since I enjoyed both P Hogan and had a ball at "Kenny" So I went with the story, Dad is depressed at the loss of his wife and Sonny takes the opportunity to rekindle things with dad, so "kidnaps" him for a trip to Cape York that was once something they were going to do as a "father and son's special". So far so good and even a kind of good things to expect in the horizon. But the horizon turns out to be not so great, with some recycled jokes and cheap gags that managed though to get a laugh or two from some of us. My audience was not as generous as the one previously mentioned, some twenty "over the hill" retirees passing through a rather wet "Forster" on the East coast of NSW Autralia. Yes this did not help. I'm surprised that it fell apart this way as I felt that there was some good ingredients in it to develop a reasonable story. But if you are going to give it a go, it won't kill you and whilst you're at it if you're a fan of Hogan watch it till the end of the credit, you should get another smile.

When Boots's mother suddenly dies, he decides to take his father up to Cape York to fulfill a long-held promise with the hope of mending bridges between them.

'Charlie & Boots' takes the premise of the 'odd-couple' genre, empties out the inner workings of what makes it tick like a skilled taxidermist, and delivers a threadbare sequence of shots that loosely hold together as a storyline, with the hope that people will be too distracted by the presence of Shane Jacobson, Paul Hogan and the natural Eastern Australian scenery to notice the gaping void beneath where depth and meaning should normally reside. I could almost imagine the meeting session where the writers pinned the various clichés of drama and Australiana to the whiteboard. Character moments in which the two leads bond following the tragedies set up earlier seem forced and aren't properly followed up. One moment, there's a scene where they confront each other over their differences, which is then completely ignored by the 'hilarious' comedy set-piece of the next. It's like a film constructed by a marketing team, who have reduced cinema down to a collection of 'idea balls', which they then string together in a row, with the end result utterly devoid of meaning.

This can only explain the casting of the film's main stars - Shane Jacobson, the contemporary 'all-Aussie' personality, with the Paul Hogan, the 'loveable larrikin' of yesteryear. Jacobson was excellent in 'Kenny' and I would like to see more of him. No-one can deny Paul Hogan's legacy either, but he and Jacobson have absolutely no chemistry between them whatsoever, let alone a vaguely convincing physical resemblance that might help me believe they're in any way related. Jim Carrey and Jerod Mixon had more in common in 'Me, Myself & Irene'. Add to this the shameless prominence in the credits of the great Roy Billing, which puts even Matt Damon's star credit in 'Saving Private Ryan' a decade earlier to shame. And oh, look - there's Deborah Kennedy's five seconds of screen time so that we can say she was in this thing. Sure, the celebrity cameo is hardly unusual, but it seemed so gratuitous here that I could have sworn I saw a giant shoehorn leaning against my apartment building after the credits rolled.

Yet if I give the impression I felt pain watching 'Charlie & Boots', it actually isn't the case. What's painful is that this is the Australian equivalent of a Hugh Grant film - so deliberately constructed to appeal to a broad demographic with such obvious touches of national character stamped onto it that you know a lot of people are going to like it. Lovable Australian icons, check. Cinematic shots of the Australian countryside, check. Amusing yokels, check. Romanticised view of white Australia (presumably the presence of North Queensland's main demographic would only get in the way), check. Potential love interests that are never pursued to keep that G-rating intact, check. One reviewer on here mentioned the way the film is practically a tourism fluff piece - something I think it would take very little editing and a simple title change to achieve. It wouldn't surprise me if the DVD release came complete with a brochure of all the places visited, replete with all the 'fun facts' about them that so often passed for dialogue. The film's ending makes the whole exercise clear - seemingly abrupt, but only if you actually wanted to take something meaningful away with you.

So I know that whatever I say, 'Charlie & Boots' presses all the right buttons to have the superficial appeal necessary to reach its mass audience. It has a cast of competent actors, it's shot on location and showcases that marvellous rural Australian scenery, the humour will elicit a smile on occasion, and the 'feel-good' factor is cranked up to 10. It's just completely devoid of genuine effort, worth, and meaning. Honestly, wouldn't you rather see Paul Hogan and Shane Jacobson live up to their past glories? I know I would.

The concept of an Australian comedy featuring the once-in-a-lifetime pair-up of Paul Crocodile Dundee Hogan and Shane Kenny Jacobson would appear foolproof. And while this movie doesn't live up to all of its potential, Charlie & Boots (the sophomore effort of director Dean Murphy, who previously teamed up with Paul Hogan for 2004's Strange Bedfellows) is an endearing, poignant and sweet comedy-drama. This is a film infused with so much heart that even the feel-good clichés it occasionally employs seem charming. It's simply an ideal vehicle for its two primary stars.

The plot line is reasonably straightforward. After the tragic death of his beloved wife Grace (Thompson), Charlie (Hogan) - a hardworking farmer - is left devastated and withdrawn. On a whim, his older son Boots (Jacobson) decides to take an impromptu fishing trip with Charlie, as it could shake his old man out of the doldrums and perhaps repair the rift between them. Once Boots gets Charlie in the car, he informs him they'll be travelling from their Victorian hometown to Cape York (thousands of kilometres away) for a spot of fishing off the country's northernmost tip (a trip long promised but never accomplished). Charlie is at first none too co-operative, but Boots does his best to be upbeat. Along the way they pick up an attractive young female hitchhiker with boyfriend trouble (Griffin), and they fend off a succession of older women who are interested in Charlie.

This is a superbly relaxed, warm and good-natured movie that celebrates the relationship between father and son. Gradually, as the trip unfolds, an uneasy companionship emerges as the two begin to learn more about each other and the dramas that ruptured their lives. The movie exposes family conflicts, and watches the protagonists as both of them divulge emotional revelations while their relationship is slowly put back on track. Charlie & Boots can also be perceived as a picturesque tourist guide of rural Australia. During their travels the characters encounter the Grampians, Tamworth, Forbes, Tenterfield and even the spectacular Great Barrier Reed. A lot of these locations are low-key (Baz Luhrman wouldn't have used them), and the radiant cinematography courtesy of Roger Lawson does justice to them. Dean Murphy's direction is frequently competent, keeping things wonderfully minimalist and naturalistic (an efficient set-up that poignantly observes Charlie's grief is a particular highlight). Dale Cornelius' delightful score adds yet another layer of enchanting flavour. The movie may be little more than a string of vignettes that all adhere to a similar formula, but everything fits together nicely. Just how well it'll play for an international audience is a mystery, though.

Charlie & Boots is heavily laced with dry Aussie wit that's well suited to Australian audiences, who should also readily identify with the characters and be enthralled by their warmth. Most of the film's good-natured comedy is derived from witty lines and a number of hilarious comedic set-pieces (such as a sequence involving a not-too-bright police officer). Yet despite the film's strong points, there are problems with the screenplay (penned by director Murphy and Stewart Faichney). The main problem is that the whole thing is painfully by-the-numbers - it's your usual bonding road-trip movie which obeys the rules of the genre (we know Charlie and Boots will patch up their relationship, for instance). Here's another thing: laughs are a tad too limited considering the talent involved. It's never particularly dull per se, but it only rarely takes off in a way that's seriously exhilarating.

Getting Paul Hogan and Shane Jacobson together in a movie was a terrific idea (however tenuous their physical resemblance). Hoges is his usual brilliant self as Charlie; delivering a trademark performance that has echoes of his glory days. The former Crocodile Dundee star is able to express an inner sadness that's deeply affecting, and the gradual breaking down of his character's bitterness and reserve is effectively conveyed. Meanwhile, Shane Jacobson is pitch-perfect - likable, sympathetic and above all relatable as Boots (whose real name is revealed in an amusing, nicely judged scene). He perfectly embodied the hard-working Aussie bloke in the 2006 hit Kenny, and in Charlie & Boots he brilliantly embodies your typical middle-aged man. In the supporting cast there's the young Morgan Griffin, who would've been 16 or 17 during production. Griffin brings a delightful warmth and buoyancy to the material, and an audience will miss her (as the boys do) when she abruptly leaves the story. Roy Billing, in a brief cameo, is another amusing highlight. The movie is in loving memory of Reg Evans who plays an amusing minor role in the movie, and who died in the 2009 Victorian bushfires.

All things considered, Charlie & Boots is a pleasant, enjoyable little Aussie film of male bonding which is both funny and touching. Its charm is very pervasive, and it's difficult not to yield to it. Any Australian who has ever taken a multiple-day road-trip will easily relate to the situations the protagonists encounter (car trouble, snoring relos, etc). Charlie & Boots may be a highly clichéd affair, but it'll surely plant a smile on your face - and who can complain about that? Be sure to watch until after the end credits for a bonus laugh.

Lots to like along with lots to dislike. The plot is okay but with the very poor script writing it fails. Acting is only average, too many goofs with directing & editing, cinematography just above average. Overall not a good example of what Aussie film makers capabilities can be.

When Charlie's (Paul Hogan) wife dies of a stroke on their 45th wedding anniversary he is consumed by grief. His estranged son, Boots (Shane Jacobson) decides both should go on a cross country fishing trip that might also help them to reconnect.

At first Charlie is not keen on the 3000 miles trip to Cape York, but Boots is persistent and Charlie's grief slowly ebbs away. They meet up with a pretty hitch-hiker with boyfriend trouble, Boots has a wild ride in a rodeo, Charlie attracts the attention of a few older women and they have a dicey plane ride.

Hogan plays it low key however it might just be the botox that has robbed him of his expressions. The film has a leisurely stroll to some picturesque settings, there is some gentle humour but all this Americana influences in the Australian rural setting with rodeos and country music rings hollow.

What to say here? It's a road movie about a father and son played by Paul Hogan and Shane Jacobson respectively. After the untimely death of their wife and mother, the two end up on a long cross country journey to go fishing at the northern tip of Australia. They have previously never gotten on together, their differences seemingly impossible to put aside, but this trip will bring about many revelations, truths, pains and maybe even laughter?

The Australian landscape photography (Roger Lanser) is as stunning as the simplicity of screenplay, with the humour and emotional wallops delivered with great skill by Hogan and Jacobson. The message of it all is not heavily handled by director Dean Murphy, he and his team take us on a journey that rings true, one that brings hope to the many who need a prompt, a push in the right direction. Because it's true you know, life really is too short.

A lovely and heart warming movie that's also very funny as well. It deserves to be better known. 8/10

Fun, tasty and funny, these road movies with parents and children always please me, no matter how much shakes and clichés they may be, they always have a light comic tone and an exciting drára... Cute and captivating...

I came away from this thinking I'd watched a promotional video for holidaying in Australia. The film did start with the premise of a story, some acting and realistic dialog, but that all vanished and we were presented with various Australian clichés, bad-taste humour and lots of chips.

Every single meal was chips, every scene was highlighting a natural feature of the landscape or a location's traditions/festival. The dialog was either about where they were going to, at or had been to - literally and not metaphorically.

The only reason I'm giving 5 stars is because of the beautiful scenery, but I already knew the east coast has some attractive sights. Some of the set pieces were cringe worthy, the music was incessant and inappropriate and most of the culture seemed to be based an Americana.

Good movie. Worth a watch. Enjoyable and funny. Definitely left a smile on my face.

Found this an excellent film very moving in the first 15 mins with excellent acting, so much so it took me a while to recognise Paul Hogan, however it quickly changes into a laugh a minute with charming performances from all the characters, spot the Aussie soap face was well played here and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, I watched it coming home from a magical Oz holiday and it was fun to see many of the sights we had experienced in this road trip film. I was told off by my hubby for laughing to loud whilst watching this with headphones on and soon it was me telling him off when he joined me in watching it!! Fantastic film and great all round entertainment, watch out for the tow car cop scene it's a beauty.

(46%) A perfectly watchable, very Australian comedy/drama road movie that at times steps a little too close to schmaltz and predictability, but thanks to its sheer simplicity and gentle nature this is near impossible to dislike. The two leads are likable with Shane Jacobson playing a typical Ozzie bloke very well, largely I suspect because he is one, with his on- screen father played by Paul Hogan providing ample old git style humour proving he hasn't lost his good comic timing over the years. This would nave benefited from a trim down by about 15-20 minutes, but all in all an unremarkable tale of father, son, and family life.

Well, if you can get to see this little known Aussie movie I suggest you do, it's not 'earth shattering' it's not 'Hollywood' (thank god!) but I for one found it to be a well made, mostly very funny, entertaining and a sometimes poignant hour thirty!.

Dad/Son road trip movies are not that common, thankfully the chemistry shown on screen by the ever excellent (but hardly seen) one liner master, Paul Hogan and of course the always likable Shane Jacobson ('Kenny') produce some truly classic moments, no spoilers here but they are 'LOL' funny together and when the mood requires, somber together.

It's a hoot, not sure why some 'reviewers' have such a downer on it? oh, Morgan Griffin as Jess was ripper mate!!!

See it if you can.

Terrible sums it up bad acting bad script if there's something else on watch that instead Bad Aussie road trip movie no laughts

If you are looking for a gentle film that makes you feel good - then I don't think you could do much better than watching this film. Definitely on my top 10 for this category.

The basic background to the story is well trodden with a Son dragging his mourning father away from the dark journey into depression that he is about to begin. This he does by literally dragging him on the 'fishing trip of a lifetime' that the father originally promised the son in his boy-hood.

It isn't just the re-bonding that takes place. It's also the re-kindling of the gentle mischief within the character played by Paul Hogan (Charlie) and the gradual revelation of the past sorrow that Shane Jacobson's character (Boots) has stoically borne. You'll laugh out loud at the humorous scenes and feel sadness in others. The jokes are not new but played with a believable realism by both main actors.

You'll know where the story is going but you'll love the characters they meet on the way and be glad for them that they get there without real mishap.

Just happened across this movie and loved it! Yeah, it was predictable, but the emotional content, acting, and scenery were wonderful. I needed a feel-good movie, and this was perfect for that. I loved the humor and the message about being able to restore broken relationships.

I like very much the road movie, especially when the travellers take advantage of the trip to share experiences, to know each other better, to laugh about blunders and mistake of their past. Therefore Charlie & Boots is very good and funny comedy.

Just absolutely 10 out 10 , actor choice spot on , Paul and Shane .I just loved the movie thanks for the tears I got from what feels close to my own, you guys are truely great actors and sense of humour in all your movies and Shane your tv hosting show with kids talents your the type of guy I'd like to get to know

Story of the movie totally touched my heart, I'm Australian and I've been to places the movie showed ,a great father son thing to accomplish, Kingswood , farm life , grief the movie makes you see don't take that time for granted, appreciate what you have.

Film has it's Aussie sense of humour ,loved the look on Shane's (Boots)face with the stall stunt , I'd be much same or not worse, the ute prank couldn't of been done any better with what wanted and getting better than expected,

Truely amazing Australian movie.