‘Australia’: Don’t be so, uh, miserables

Here at the Spokane Daily Grit things is just hoppin’. And in that spirit, boys and girls, today we’re gonna address Baz Luhrman’s epic film “Australia.”

So, OK, the film is overly long (around three hours with trailer and ads), it’s cheesy (Broadway musical cheesy, in the language of all you “Phantom of the Opera” fans), it’s filled with more adoring looks at Outback Aboriginals than shrimp references in a dozen Paul Hogan tourist ads , it looks as if it were edited by a dyslexic kindergartener and it boasts a level of acting that would feel at home during “American Idol” auditions.

But so what? I never got bored, never looked at my watch, felt entertained from beginning to end and, when all was said and done, was glad to have spent my $5 (I went to the early-weekend discount show).

Isn’t that what the average moviegoer wants? Isn’t that their biggest gripe with critics, that we can’t ever just shut off our brains and enjoy the crap that Hollywood shovels our way (even if that crap is originally created on a whole other continent)?

If I had to be critical, I could pull “Australia” apart easier than Captain Hook could pull the wings off Tinkerbell. But I don’t want to.

So all you Luhrman-haters out there, feel “Les Miserables” if you want to. I simply don’t.

Below: Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman star in Baz Luhrman’s “Australia.”

Associated Press photo