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Fat Pizza
Critical Review by Oakley Krahenbuhl
PART ONE

Director: Paul French
Scriptwriter: Paul French and Tahir Bilgic
Cinematographer: Paul French
Producer: Paul French
Production Companies: Fat Pizza Productions
Lead Actors:
Paul French as Pauly Falzoni
Paul Nakaed as Sleek the Elite
John Boxer (III) as Bobo Gigliotti
Tahir Bilgic as Habib
Maria Venuti as Bobo's mama
Davo Finkum as Jabba

Release Date: In the Cinema 10 April 2003
Box Office Figures:
Week 1: $ 1,164,578
Week 2: $ 827,230
Week 3: $ 422,994
Total as of 1 May 2003 $ 7,888,102
Bibliographical Information:
Fat Pizza has its own website with commentary by the film maker, Paul French. This web address is http://www.fatpizza.com.au. This includes photos, postings, and everything else to do with the franchise. It includes a weekly posting from Paul French himself about the weekly box office. Other than that, there were no personal interviews or commentary by the film makers that I could find.
The reviews were few and far between, however there were a few on the internet. At http://www.theage.com.au the review was only compared to a movie of the same release date Johnny English. The anonymous author stated that although the movie was only released in 101 cinemas, verses Johnny English's 205, the movie came in a very deserving second in Australian cinema. As a Fat Pizza fan, the author raved about the film, stating it was "strictly Australian." On the website http://www.smh.com.au Sandra Hall of the Sydney Herald News gives a terrible review of the film. She says "I wouldn't call it a script. It's more like a series of eruptions planned around a checklist of offendable minorities and social taboos which they have an urgent itch to break, preferably while breaking wind." This review was only taken from the point of view of the Middle aged woman trying to be in the mindset of a young man with his hormones raging. She stated she should not get into that mindset, and therefore perhaps she was not giving it a fair review. One more review, found on http://www.news.com.au written by Vicky Roach for the Daily Telegraph, gives the film a mixed review. She says she gives the film credit for being the disgusting joke it is, however the jokes go a bit over the line.


Methods of Research and Online Presence:
Before viewing the film, I had no idea of the series that came before it. After wasting the ten dollars fifty that I did, plus the other twenty one dollars my friends spent to join me, I decided to learn more about the film, in which I eventually ended up writing this paper on. However, I started at the official website, complete with dirty movies, and uncensored commentary from fans of the film. Without watching the semi-pornographic movies, I then went on to see what other people thought about the film, ensuring I was not just being naive because I did not know of the SBS TV show. As I was reading commentary from other people that though the movie was as bad as I did, there were also the few people on the website that ranted and raved about how great it was and that they have seen it multiple times. From there, I went searching on the internet about information about the film. This was few and far between, however the Australian Cinema websites were somewhat helpful. The Murdoch University Library had virtually nothing even associated with the film or the TV show, therefore the internet was my only hope. Most of the articles were very dry with little, if any information. Over all, the only information I really had all access to was the official websites itself, and a very minimum of newspaper articles.

PART TWO
Plot: The plot begins is the story of young Lebanese men that live in Australia, delivering pizza for fat pizza. The disgusting minds of these men flow throughout the entire film with the use of fat girls, pornography, mushrooms, pizza, alcohol, and most importantly sex. There are many subplots to the film; in fact the subplots are the plot. Each character has his own dilemma, and all the other men are helping with that particular situation. Within twenty four hours, the men manage to get rid of a harem of fat girls, find some drugs, have some sex, and watch their boss get married to an illegal Asian immigrant in which he bought off a mail-order-bride catalogue on the internet. Bobo battles with his mother to get married, with whom the middle-aged man still lives. After many battles with getting his mail-order-bride to the country, she finally arrived in a small boat along with about fifty of her closest family members. When they arrive at Bobo's mother's house, she does not know what to do. After Bobo shows up at his mother's house, he falls madly in love with the woman he is bound to marry. The illegal immigrants are only the beginning of the movies bad jokes along with those that make fun of September 11th, and killing a few American backpackers. Also, a new employee at Fat Pizza, Jabba, the typical white drug addict, is only the new guy to pick on with this own antics. During the entire movie is he in search of the best drugs he can find, no matter the consequence. With each drug he uses his eyes begin to change color and his skin turns another.
Though the sick humor, and adult themes are what attracted me to the film, I think it was actually those same concepts that actually made me revolted by the film. There was a small crack, which could come unnoticed, about the September 11th incident that was almost able to make me vomit. That one line is one of the worst acts of utter stupidity and inconsideration that I have ever heard of. Maybe that view is that coming from the American I am, but where I come from that is not something to joke about nor is it something that one should make a mockery of. The opening was scene was equally disturbing. This scene started as Pauly needed to go "Number Two" and all the toilets in the restroom were taken. He then goes to the disabled toilet to relieve himself. He fills the toilet with farts, and imaginably horrible smells while he reads the newspaper. Meanwhile, an elderly man, a dwarf, and a man in a wheel chair are waiting in line for the toilet. They realize that he is a man of no disability, so they decide to lock him in the gas filled toilet. After he finally gets house, he beats the men to hell with their own canes and everyone in the audience was laughing hysterically. Yes, I admit I was laughing at the moment, but after thinking about it I wonder why I paid that ten dollars fifty I did.

Critical Uptake: The few people that did comment on this film were not too pleased with the film. I think, however, the most popular film critics are those that this movie did not appeal to, therefore this movie did not get feedback from the people who probably would have actually paid to see the film. I have not found very many professional crituqes of the film that were even seen by the male audience, let alone those from the age group of under twenty-five. But one can also find those critics that were great fans of the SBS TV Series and appreciate the film. Some comments from critics were:
"Cheep and Cheerful" City Search: Melbourne
"Fat Pizza the movie, at least for lovers of the TV series, is hilarious. Those less inclined to enjoy broad-minded satire might find it blokey and stupid, but hey, they'd be missing out on a hell of a lot of fun." ABC Far North Queensland
"Irreverent pizza delivery satire" The Four Word Review
"If there was an international festival for the grossest, most politically incorrect films of 2003, Fat Pizza would definitely be Australia's submission, and short-priced favourite for top honours." Screendaily.com
"To describe Fat Pizza as an un-PC romp is an understatement, yet this big screen version of the popular SBS programme Pizza's portrayal of Australian stereotypes must be accurate since it is as funny as it is offensive." Filmink.com

Production: After two seasons of the hit series Fat Pizza on SBS, an Australian international network, the creators of the series decided they could stretch their antics into a feature length film. There was an obviously low budget for the film, and the sound track was full of local bands, which were some friends of the Fat Pizza Boys. The film was targeted to the young men with hormones raging, and fans of the series.

Film Verses Previous Work of Cast and Crew: Seeing as though the only experience any of these people have was only in the Fat Pizza Series, there is not much to compare with. Not one actor has had previous expericance listed on anything I could find. I have not seen the series; therefore I cannot compare it to anything.

Future of the Film: This film probably has not actually important future in Australian cinema. I think that this will only be relevant to those who are fans of the series, or a rental of a naïve person who thinks the cover on the DVD looks interesting. No movie I have ever seen can even compare to how bad it is. I think this may compare to the American Film of perhaps Cabin Boy starring Chris Elliot, one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The current place in the market is one of a quickly successful film. The first few weeks of its release, it was definitely in the top ten in Australia, but after people talked about how terrible it was, and there were hardly any repeat viewers, the ticket sales quickly dwindled. This film does not have any value in the Australian film industry because it is truly a terrible film.

Fat Pizza as a Piece of Australian Cinema: I think that Fat Pizza is a piece of Australian cinema because it does come from the independent filmmakers, and the creators of Fat Pizza. The story is definitely Australian, and the plot is about getting the most out of doing nothing. This film has a definite quirkiness to it which is a characteristic of Australian cinema. Garry Gillard of Murdoch University in Western Australia says, "Despite this movement from the ephemeral to the permanent, it's clear through all these shifts that the meaning of a quirk has two characteristics: firstly, it is to do with style, and secondly, it is unexpected." Fat Pizza has definite style, but how to define that style is a hard thing to do. Also, I never knew what was coming next in the film, and when certain scenes did happen, I was in shock. Even an hour after the film, I was thinking and talking to my friends about what happened in the film. I though that any second someone was going to fart, or burp or yell at a fat chick. Fat Pizza also has what Gillard would call madness. I do not know if the filmmakers were conveying that they were actually mad, however that is the felling the audience got when completing the film. "On the creative side, the themes and characters depicted must be assumed to convey the filmmakers' idea of what madness is, and also what they think audiences want to watch and what they will find acceptable." I think that the filmmakers knew what the audience would think was madness and tried to convey it as realistically as possible.
Just as with every other film, one must be interested in the film to enjoy it. Maybe I was being to harsh because I did not know about the series, or maybe I was being realistic to the fact that this was an "ocker film." Which ever the case, I do not think this is a film that should be shown around the world as a product of Australian film production.

References:
Those not listed here, see above

Gillard, Gary. "Quirkiness in Australia Cinema." Australia Screen Education. 29, 2002,
30-35.