The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee | |
---|---|
Directed by | |
Written by | Robert Mond Dean Murphy |
Produced by | Nigel Odell Dean Murphy |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Roger Lanser |
Edited by | Peter Carrodus Robert Mond |
Music by | John Foreman |
Production companies | Clock Sounds Productions Pty Kathy Morgan International Piccadilly Pictures Salt Media & Entertainment |
Distributed by | Transmission Films |
Release date | 17 July 2020 |
Countries | Australia United States |
Language | English |
The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee is a 2020 Australian comedy film directed by Dean Murphy, written by Robert Mond and Dean Murphy, and starring Paul Hogan, Rachael Carpani, Jacob Elordi, Charlotte Stent, Nate Torrence, Chevy Chase, John Cleese, Olivia Newton-John, Reginald VelJohnson, Shane Jacobson, Wayne Knight and Kerry Armstrong.
It was released on Amazon Prime Video on 17 July 2020, [1] and was the final film Olivia Newton-John starred in before her death in 2022.
Paul Hogan is reluctantly thrust back into the spotlight as he desperately attempts to restore his sullied reputation on the eve of being knighted. The title pays homage to Hogan's famous role of Crocodile Dundee.
Filming took place in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and Los Angeles, California, USA in 2018. [2]
The film was originally scheduled to be released in Australian cinemas on 30 April 2020, but had its theatrical release cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee was released exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on 17 July the same year.
This new film has been summarized by Penelope DeBelle in Adelaide Now as "the latest in a long line of old man movies... Crocodile Dundee was 34 years ago, followed two years later by Crocodile Dundee II. Not even surgical uplifts and impeccable veneers can alter the fact that Hogan is now 80 years old. ...the idea of Hogan trying to revive the warmth and affection we had for his younger self seems a forlorn hope, just as casting a creaky Harrison Ford as a man living off the land seems an unnecessary stretch." [3]
The film has mostly negative reviews, with one and two-star reviews from ArtsHub, [4] Screenspace, [5] The Sydney Morning Herald [6] and The Guardian. [7] The Australian newspaper's Stephen Romei gave it one star: "The kindest comment I can make about Paul Hogan's new movie, The Very Excellent Mr Dundee, is that it includes John Cleese's worst performance ever (and, yes, I have seen Fierce Creatures from 1997)." [8]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 14% based on 21 reviews, and an average rating of 3.9/10. [9] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 24 out of 100, based on 4 critics. [10]
Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
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Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Supporting Actor | Chevy Chase | Nominated | [11] |
Dame Olivia Newton-John was a British and Australian singer and actress. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included fifteen top-ten singles, including five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and two number-one albums on the Billboard 200: If You Love Me, Let Me Know (1974) and Have You Never Been Mellow (1975). Eleven of her singles and fourteen of her albums have been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The cinema of Australia had its beginnings with the 1906 production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, arguably the world's first feature film. Since then, Australian crews have produced many films, a number of which have received international recognition. Many actors and filmmakers with international reputations started their careers in Australian films, and many of these have established lucrative careers in larger film-producing centres such as the United States.
Crocodile Dundee is a 1986 action comedy film set in the Australian Outback and in New York City. It stars Paul Hogan as the weathered Mick Dundee, and American actress Linda Kozlowski as reporter Sue Charlton. Inspired by the true-life exploits of Rod Ansell, the film was made on a budget of under $10 million as a deliberate attempt to make a commercial Australian film that would appeal to a mainstream American audience, but proved to be a worldwide phenomenon.
Paul Hogan is an Australian actor and comedian. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance as outback adventurer Michael "Crocodile" Dundee in Crocodile Dundee (1986), the first in the Crocodile Dundee film series.
Crocodile Dundee II is a 1988 action comedy film and the second of the Crocodile Dundee film series. It is a sequel to Crocodile Dundee (1986) and was followed by Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (2001). Actors Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski reprise their roles as Mick Dundee and Sue Charlton, respectively, here shown opposing a Colombian drug cartel.
Linda Kozlowski is an American former actress. She is best known for her role as Sue Charlton in the Crocodile Dundee film series (1986–2001), with the first installment earning her a Golden Globe Award nomination.
The Paul Hogan Show was a popular Australian comedy show which aired on Australian television from 1973 until 1984 for a total of 12 seasons and 60 episodes. It made a star of Paul Hogan, who later appeared in Crocodile Dundee. Hogan's friend John Cornell also appeared in the show, playing Hogan's dim flatmate Strop.
John Cornell was an Australian actor, director, producer, writer, and businessman. He was best known for his role as "Strop" on The Paul Hogan Show, and he was instrumental in the introduction of World Series Cricket in 1977.
Betty Ann Bobbitt was an American actress, director, singer, and playwright based in Australia, with a career that spanned over 60 years, encompassing theatre, television, and film.
Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles is a 2001 action comedy film directed by Simon Wincer and starring Paul Hogan. It is the sequel to Crocodile Dundee II (1988) and the third and final film of the Crocodile Dundee film series. Hogan and Linda Kozlowski reprise their roles as Michael "Crocodile" Dundee and Sue Charlton, respectively. The film was shot on location in Los Angeles and in Queensland. Actor Paul Hogan reported that the inspiration for the storyline came during a tour of Litomyšl, Czech Republic in 1993. It was released on 18 April 2001 in the United States. It grossed $39.4 million worldwide and received negative reviews from critics who called it an unnecessary sequel.
Physical is the eleventh studio album by British-Australian singer Olivia Newton-John, released through MCA Records on 13 October 1981. The album was produced and partly written by her long-time record producer John Farrar. Recorded and mixed at Ocean Way and David J. Holman's studio in Los Angeles, Physical became one of Newton-John's most controversial and sexual records, and her most successful studio album. Musically, the album features considerable use of synthesizers, and it explores lyrical themes such as love and relationships, sex, and environmental protection. Upon its release, the album received positive reviews from music critics, many of them considering it to be Newton-John's best effort. The album charted high in several countries, including the United States, Japan and Newton-John's native Australia, becoming one of the most successful albums of the early 1980s. It also ranks among the best-selling albums by Australian solo artists, selling more than ten million copies worldwide.
Almost an Angel is a 1990 American fantasy comedy-drama film directed by John Cornell and starring Paul Hogan. The original music score was composed by Maurice Jarre.
Michael J. "Crocodile" Dundee, played by Paul Hogan, is a fictional protagonist in the Crocodile Dundee film series consisting of Crocodile Dundee, Crocodile Dundee II, and Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. The character is a crocodile hunter, hence the nickname and is modeled on Rod Ansell.
A Few Best Men: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Remixes is the sixth soundtrack album by British-Australian singer Olivia Newton-John, released on 20 January 2012 by Universal Records in Australia. It was released to promote and accompany the 2011 Australian comedy film, A Few Best Men.
This Christmas is a Christmas album by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, released on November 9, 2012, by Universal Music Enterprises. The first time that Travolta and Newton-John worked together was on the musical film Grease (1978), in which they performed the songs "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights". Both the film and the songs were a commercial phenomenon. This album is the first new artistic work they have done together since the 1983 film Two of a Kind. This Christmas is also the 25th studio album, following the 2008 release A Celebration in Song, and the third all-new Christmas album by Newton-John.
Kenneth George Shadie was an Australian screenwriter, who co-wrote the Academy Award-nominated screenplay for the film Crocodile Dundee with Paul Hogan and John Cornell.
Gerry Skilton is an Australian actor, best known for playing the character Nugget in all three of the Crocodile Dundee series of films: Crocodile Dundee, Crocodile Dundee II, and Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. With permission from Paul Hogan, he reprised the character in 2010 for a proposed outback-adventure reality series Nugget Gets A Life which he self-financed and had hoped to sell to a network.
Hoges: The Paul Hogan Story is a two-part Australian miniseries based on Australian actor and comedian Paul Hogan which premiered on 12 February and concluded on 19 February 2017.
The Crocodile Dundee film series consists of action-comedy films centered on a crocodile hunter named Michael J. "Crocodile" Dundee. The movies star Paul Hogan in the title role, over the course of three feature films. Hogan refused several proposals for more Crocodile Dundee films.
Jacob Elordi is an Australian actor. He gained prominence through his roles as high school students Noah Flynn in The Kissing Booth film trilogy (2018–2021) on Netflix and Nate Jacobs in the HBO series Euphoria (2019–present). In 2023, Elordi portrayed Elvis Presley in the biographical film Priscilla and starred in the psychological drama Saltburn.