The Craic is a 1999 Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 starring Jimeoin

Jimeoin

Jimeoin McKeown, who performs under the name Jimeoin , is a stand-up comedian and actor from Northern Ireland. He came to public attention between 2005 and 2008 while performing an "over the top" comedy tour Australia's outback and major cities, which was filmed for the BBC Northern Ireland...

 and Alan McKee

Alan McKee

Alan McKee is an Australian university professor and internationally acclaimed researcher of sexualised media.He has served as the president of the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia and sits on the editorial boards of the academic journals Continuum, the Australian Journal of...

 and directed by Ted Emery.

Plot

Two Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 actors (Jimeoin McKeown, Alan McKee) flee from 1988 Belfast

Belfast

Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 after a violent confrontation with a leader (Robert Morgan) of the IRA

Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

 and illegally enter Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Seeking acting

Acting

Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play....

 work, the two fear immigration

Immigration

Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

 officers. McKeown happens to get selected as the bachelor on a TV dating game and wins a trip to Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 just as the pair's apartment is raided by immigration. McKee escapes just in time and joins his friend. Meanwhile, the IRA leader is sent to Australia in a witness protection program after he gives up some of his former colleagues. The two then spend the remainder of the movie being pursued by the immigration officers and the vengeful IRA head.

Critical reception

In a review in the long-running SBS

Special Broadcasting Service

The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...

 Australian TV program, The Movie Show

The Movie Show

The Movie Show is an Australian film review program that airs on SBS TV. Its history falls into three parts.-Original format:The original format, which ran from 30 October 1986 to 12 May 2004, had two presenters, David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz. Stratton and Pomeranz left for the ABC in early...

, cinema critic David Stratton

David Stratton

David James Stratton is an English- Australian film critic and television personality.-Life and career:Born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England in 1939, Stratton was sent to Hampshire to see out the war years with his grandmother, an avid filmgoer, where he was taken to the local cinemas regularly...

 described the film as an only intermittently funny road movie

Road movie

A road movie is a film genre in which the main character or characters leave home to travel from place to place. They usually leave home to escape their current lives.-History:...

. Margaret Pomeranz

Margaret Pomeranz

Margaret Pomeranz AM is an Australian film critic and television personality.-Early life:Pomeranz was born in 1944 in Waverley, a suburb of Sydney, and was educated at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney in Croydon, the then newly opened Macquarie University, and the Playwright's Studio at...

agreed, finding the script underdeveloped, and the film itself "good-natured but really incredibly mundane".

External links

• The Craic at the National Film and Sound Archive