Entertainment Mondays: Crackerjack (23 January 2017)

Crackerjack is an Australian film starring Mick Molloy as Jack Simpson. Jack has been a member of the Cityside Bowls Club for many years but has never played a game. He rents out his bowls parking space to workers for some extra money on the side. One day, he gets a call that he must participate in lawn bowls otherwise his membership will be cancelled.  So Jack plays a game of bowls and quickly comes to enjoy the game.

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The other club members begrudgingly accept Jack’s presence as they need him to help win a tournament which will save their club. The club is in financial difficulties and at risk of being sold to Bernie Fowler (John Clarke). Bernie wants to buy the property and put in pokey machines to add more revenue. The club members hate the idea of the club turning into a cash cow. Meanwhile, Nancy Brown (Judith Lucy ) a reporter for the small time news reports on the tournament and is the love interest for Jack Simpson.

Lawn bowls clubs are a common sight in Australia and this is the first movie that I have watched where it was featured. I haven’t played lawn bowls before. While the story of a greedy business man taking over a struggling place has been done before, I still found this movie to be delightful. In the movie, the bowls members are sticklers to the rules and it reminded me of being on school committees. There was this funny scene where refreshments have been laid out and Jack cuts a hunk of cheese and makes a sandwich. Usually people are supposed to cut a thin slice of cheese and eat it with a cracker or its own.

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 The action is disapproved by some of the members and they have a meeting about it. Someone says that an incident happened with the cheese and they want no cheese to be served next time pending on an investigation. Someone else says that there should be a subcommittee to handle the case.

I didn’t find the lawn bowls part interesting; I rather liked the characters instead. Jack is a likeable guy although he’s a loudmouth; he’s got a good heart. The senior citizens in the movie are like sweet grandparents.

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This movie might be a bit niche for some, as it features Australian comedy and it’s about lawn bowls which is a not a popular sport in some countries. However, I recommend viewers give this film a go particularly if you are looking for a movie to watch with older people.  I will caution that there is a bit of swearing in the movie so it’s up to the viewer discretion.