Fat Pizza | |
---|---|
Directed by | Paul Fenech |
Written by | Tahir Bilgiç Paul Fenech |
Based on | Pizza (TV series) |
Produced by | Tanith Carrol Paul Fenech Jeff Purser |
Starring | Paul Fenech Paul Nakad John Boxer Tahir Bilgiç Jabba |
Narrated by | Paul Fenech |
Cinematography | Mike Kliem |
Distributed by | Roadshow Entertainment |
Release dates |
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Running time | 96 minutes |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Box office | $2,146,843 |
Fat Pizza is a 2003 Australian comedy film based on the Pizza television series, both of which were created, produced, written and starred in by Paul Fenech. The film's story takes place between seasons two (episode "Desert Pizza") and three (episode "Brand New Pizza") of the television series. It features Rebel Wilson's first movie credit.
It was produced by Village Roadshow Pictures and SBS Independent (uncredited). [1] It was filmed in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney, specifically Bass Hill and Chullora. Scenes were also filmed in the Hills District of Sydney, at Kellyville and Norwest Business Park. [2] It was released by Roadshow Entertainment [1] on 10 April 2003 and made $2,146,843 at the box office. [3]
The film is set in Canterbury-Bankstown and opens with the protagonist, Pauly (Paul Fenech), claiming that the following events are all true and that real names are used.
Pauly arrives late at work to find his employer, Bobo (Johnny Boxer), has hired a new delivery driver, Davo (Jason Davis). Pauly explains to Davo that Bobo is crazy from being a forty-year-old virgin who lives with his mother, but is getting married the next day to a Vietnamese mail-order bride, Lin Chow Bang (Tuyen Le), who is sneaking into the country illegally. Pauly then shows Davo the "Former Employee Hall of Shame", which features Sahib (Desan Padayachee), who was forced out for being too polite and not tough enough. In retribution for being fired, Sahib and his friends opened their own pizzeria, Phat Pizza.
Later on, Pauly gets into a traffic accident with clown mascot Ronnie Mcdoggle (George Kapiniaris), whom Pauly mocks and assaults. Dozens more clown mascots surround Pauly, forcing him to single-handedly fight them all off, after which the clowns decide to back down and Pauly flees the scene in his delivery car. Ronnie and his fellow clown mascots later show up at the Pizzaria to look for Pauly, but Bobo scares them away with his chainsaw.
Meanwhile, Davo is late delivering a pizza to a house of bikies. While looking around the delivery address, he finds a drug lab producing homemade steroids and a large amount of marijuana. He is then discovered by the bikie gang who fight with and subdue Davo. The bikies are about to kill Davo as the lab catches light and explodes as a result of Davo dropping a joint during the fight. Davo and the bikies survive the explosion, but Davo is able to escape. Back at the Pizzeria, Davo meets fellow delivery driver Sleek the Elite (Paul Nakad), who tells him how he feigns romantic interest in unattractive women so he can meet and sleep with their attractive friends. Sleek then details how he has another delivery driver, Habib (Tahir Bilgic) secretly film his sexual encounters without the women's knowledge. Sleek then asks Davo what he used to do before becoming a pizza deliverer, which Davo reveals he was a heavy marijuana user, and that he got the pizza delivery job after getting arrested for possession of marijuana and being sentenced to six years of work release due to prison overpopulation.
While Pauly is getting ready to go clubbing with the other delivery drivers, as well as with Habib and Rocky (Rob Shehadie), Sahib steals his employee uniform from his clothes line and uses it to sneak into the pizzeria and tamper with the phonelines, redirecting all incoming calls to steal their business. Upon leaving, he is spotted by a group of the clown mascots who mistake him for Pauly and beat him up. As a result of their tampering, Phat Pizza then receives a phone call from the bikie gang asking for their address. Meanwhile, Bobo is forced to stay back at the Pizzaria while a Department of Health worker performs a safety inspection, but after the worker insults Bobo's mother, Bobo kills him by forcing him into the oven. During the night out with the other delivery drivers, Sleek runs into Toula (Rebel Wilson), one of the girls he has been leading on. Toula and her friends drug Sleek and abduct him. Upon awaking, they tell Sleek that they are sick of him using them to date their attractive friends and rape him as an act of revenge.
Come the next day, Sleek is on his way to the wedding when he is attacked by a coalition of organised crime syndicates who have allied against Sleek because the mafia leaders' daughters were victims of Sleek and Habib's voyeurism. Scared for his life, Sleek calls Habib and Rocky for help, who rallies a Lebanese mob to come to Sleek's defence. However, Rocky discovers that his sister was one of the girls Sleek slept with and had Habib film, leading him to turn on Sleek and join the gangs in beating him and Habib up. Bobo, his bride and their guests discover at the wedding that the priest quadruple booked the church, causing the priest to hastily marry all of the couples. Pauly then declares in a cut-away that "At this point, all that was left to do was go and get pissed".
In the post-credit scenes, Sleek calls Bobo from the hospital to ask for workers compensation only to be fired. The bikie gang members then kill the Phat Pizza employees mistaking them for the staff of Fat Pizza.
Actor | Character |
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Paul Fenech | Pauly Falzoni |
Paul Nakad | Sleek the Elite |
John Boxer | Bobo Gigliotti |
Tahir Bilgiç | Habib Halal |
Jabba | Davo Dinkum |
Desan Padayachee | Sahib |
Maria Venuti | Bobo's Mama |
Annalise Braakensiek | Claudia Macpherson |
Angry Anderson | Bikie |
Glenn Butcher | Priest |
Michael Craig | Judge |
Cass Cumerford | Main in white |
June Dries | Bikie babe #1 |
Jeff Fenech | Himself |
Mario Fenech | Uncle Shiba |
Tim Ferguson | David Cockerfield |
Linden Goh | Lachlan |
Merv Hughes | Ivan Milat |
Kamahl | Manager of Phat Pizza |
George Kapiniaris | Ronnie McDoggle |
Costas Kilias | Dimitri |
Bernard King | Leather Gay Man |
Hung Le | Revenge-Crazed Gangster |
Elliot Goblet | Health Inspector |
Pip Mushin | Injured Mormon |
Shane Porteous | Doctor |
Denise Roberts | Various roles |
Phillip Scott | Injured Mormon |
Arthur Serevetas | Fighting Arthur Penn |
Rob Shehadie | Rocky |
Chris Franklin | Dazza |
Krissy Stanley | The Crying Lady |
Red Symons | Northern Territory Customs Officer |
Krista Vendy | Green Peace Secretary |
Rebel Wilson | Toula (Wilson's first film credit [4] ) |
Phen Yee Sng | Ling's Father |
Alex Antequera | Gay Hitman |
Bruno Xavier | Young Gandhi |
Tuyen Le | Lin Chow Bang |
Peng Wong | Refugee Uncle |
Shakir Pichler | Mafia Boss in Boxing flashback |
The film received a mostly positive response from critics. Adrian Martin, a PhD in Film Style, gave the film a 3 out of 5 rating, praising it for its strong, outrageous jokes, saying they elevate it above most Australian comedies. Martin also commended its energy, brash confidence and appeal to its target audience. [5] Louise Keller of Urban Cinefile said that the film's offensive humour was "very funny" and praised it for being irreverent, high-energy and over-the-top. [6]
The film was a source of controversy because of its use of vulgar humour, racial stereotypes and ethnic slurs (including choco, for non-white people). Some have argued that the portrayal of ethnic-minority characters in the film links vulgarity to ethnic identity and social class. The film is also accused of disingenuously passing off its representations of ethnic minorities as satire to excuse its harmful implications. [7] As such, it is an example of self-stereotyping, like other Australian ethnic-minority lead comedies are. [8]
A counterargument to this that has been raised is that the film gives representation to ethnic minorities, such as Lebanese and Vietnamese people, who were previously absent from Australian comedy [9] and that it is an example of ethnic minorities representing themselves and pushing against mainstream representations. [8] Therefore, Fat Pizza—among other films—marks a shift in the representation of minorities in Australian media away from sensitive, serious portrayals towards market driven entertainment (Khorana, 2019). The favored reception of the film is argued to represent a large, youthful, ethnic-minority audience looking for an outlet against being minoritized in Australian media. [10]
Paul Fenech stated in an interview "It's a very hard country for a lot of people to survive, and that's why people come to my shows, doesn't matter whether they are Greek or bogan." [8]
The television show for which the film was adapted from went on to be renewed for another three seasons, which aired in mid-2003 (several months after the movie was released), 2005 and 2007 on SBS. A crossover film between Fat Pizza and Housos – another television show created by Paul Fenech – was released on 27 November 2014. [11] The Fat Pizza television show was revived for a sixth season in 2019 by Paul Fenech and premiered on 7mate, November, 2019. [12]
Fat Pizza is an Australian comedy television series created by Paul Fenech.
Pizza delivery is a service in which a pizzeria or pizza chain delivers a pizza to a customer. An order is typically made either by telephone, or over the internet, in which the customer can request pizza type and size, and other items to be delivered with it, commonly including soft drinks. Pizzas may be delivered in cardboard pizza boxes or delivery bags, and deliveries are made with either an automobile, motorized scooter, or bicycle. Customers can, depending on the provider, choose to pay online, or in person, with cash, credit card, debit card or other means. A delivery fee is sometimes charged, although free delivery is also common.
George Kapiniaris is an Australian stage, television and film actor and comedian. He is of Greek descent and is best known for his role in popular sitcom Acropolis Now and composed the series' theme song.
Paul Fenech is an Australian filmmaker, film and television actor, director, producer and writer. He is best known for writing, directing, producing and starring in the television series Pizza, Swift and Shift Couriers, Housos,Bogan Hunters, Fat Pizza: Back in Business, Housos vs. Virus: The Lockdown and Darradong Local Council as well as the motion pictures Fat Pizza (2003), Housos vs. Authority (2012), Fat Pizza vs. Housos (2014) and Dumb Criminals: The Movie (2015).
Jason Davis, known professionally as Jabba, is an Australian actor, media personality, video jockey, television and radio host, who first made a name for himself as part of the launch of subscription television in Australia in 1995. He was a host for music television station "Red" on the now-defunct Galaxy subscription television network, before the channel changed its name to Channel V. Jason the jabba was part of a famous Incubus live performance at a secret gig in Bondi 2002.
Alex Romano is an Argentine-Australian actor. He has starred in all of Paul Fenech's TV series; as DJ BJ in Pizza, "Alex" in Swift and Shift Couriers, and "Jimmy the Junkie" in Housos. He grew up in the Western Suburbs of Sydney, Australia, after he migrated there with his family in 1981.
Tahir Bilgiç is an Australian comedian, film and television actor of Turkish descent. He is primarily an actor and comedian. He has written, directed and starred in live shows including "Lord of The Kebabs", "From Lebanon With Love" and "Straight Outta Compo" to name a few. He has appeared in 5 different Australian sit-coms and 3 feature films. He co-created and starred in "StreetSmart" (ch10) as well as coming with the initial idea and then co-creating "Here Come The Habibs" (ch9).
Paul Naked is an Australian actor and rapper, best known by the name Sleek the Elite. He began performing music as Sleek the Elite in 1991, then appeared in the SBS television series Pizza as a character by that same name. He appeared on the first two seasons of Pizza from 2000 to 2001, and in the show's two spinoff films, Fat Pizza (2003) and Fat Pizza vs. Housos (2014).
Rob Shehadie is an Australian actor, writer and stand-up comedian, who has featured in television series such as Pizza, Swift and Shift Couriers and Housos. He has performed numerous stage show comedies across Australia and has made many appearances at schools and charity events. His filmography includes Fat Pizza, a feature film that broke Australian box office records and Fat Pizza vs. Housos. Shehadie and Tahir Bilgic created the TV comedy series Here Come the Habibs
Swift and Shift Couriers is an Australian comedy television series that first screened on SBS TV in October 2008. The series is produced, directed and written by Paul Fenech, who was also responsible for the comedy series Pizza. It is set around the staff of the fictional 'Swift and Shift' Courier Company, in the central business district of Sydney. Episodes have been partly filmed in Egypt, India, Thailand and the United States.
John "Johnny" Boxer is an Australian television and film actor and commercial voice-over best known for his role as Bobo Gigliotti in Pizza.
Housos is an Australian comedy television series created by Paul Fenech for SBS, that screened on SBS One. The series is a satirical parody of low income Australian residents of fictional suburb Sunnyvale, New South Wales, who are living in Housing Commission public housing. In 2014, the series won the Logie Award for Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program.
Murray Harman is a television and film actor from Australia, best known for his role as Murray the Cop in the black comedy series Pizza and Murray Smith Swift and Shift Couriers.
Housos vs. Authority is an Australian film, based upon the stories and characters of the Housos television series, created by Paul Fenech.
Bogan Hunters is an Australian comedy reality television series created by Paul Fenech for Seven Network's 7mate. The series provides an in-depth look into Australia's bogan subculture, as the Bogan Hunters traverse the nation looking for Australia's greatest bogan. The show first aired on Australia's 7mate on 13 May 2014 and on New Zealand's TV2 on 14 October 2014. The finale of season 1 aired on 15 July 2014 in Australia and on 9 December 2014 in New Zealand.
Kevin James Taumata is a Māori New Zealander Australian film and television actor.
Heaven the Axe is a heavy metal band, which formed in Wagga Wagga in 2007 by Phoebe Pinnock on lead vocals and her husband, Steve Watts, on rhythm guitar.
Fat Pizza vs. Housos is an Australian film based on the combination of the stories and characters of the SBS series Pizza and the comedy series Housos, both created by Paul Fenech. The film began screening in Australian cinemas on 27 November 2014.
The Bandidos Motorcycle Club is classified as a motorcycle gang by law enforcement and intelligence agencies in numerous countries. While the club has denied being a criminal organization, Bandidos members have been convicted of partaking in criminal enterprises including theft, extortion, prostitution, drug trafficking and murder in various host nations.