MOVIE REVIEW : A BAD DAY FOR NEW ZEALAND’S ‘FRIDAY’

The New Zealand film industry is bright and burgeoning, but not so sturdy that it can’t be dropped in its tracks when word of mouth about “Came a Hot Friday” (Beverly Center Cineplex) gets around. This antic excess is enough to kill off an infant industry single-handedly.

A period effort, it tracks a pair of dim con men (Peter Bland and Philip Gordon) who decide that tiny Tainuia Junction is the place to run a betting scam, based on the fact that race results are broadcast with a slight delay (it’s 1949). Put a spotter in a tree by the track, call a confederate at the bookie’s bar with an elaborate code, bet on the known thing and clean up.

Everything, of course, goes wrong, but most wrong of all is director/co-writer Ian Mune, who abhors a quiet moment or an unfrenzied actor. He has his cast whinnying, roaring, grimacing and shooting their cuffs as if entire careers had to be packed into these 100 minutes. (Some may have been.)

To the best of my stunned memory, no action happens just once. Heads are butted, eyes are crossed, fingers are smashed again and again. Knocking down the aged father with his wooden leg is good for four choruses and a repeat. The Maori (Billy T. James) who thinks he’s a Mexican bandit shouts “Arriba! Arriba!” endlessly. Cartoons are at least short; this is relentless.

Want a hot tip, mate? Give it a bye.

‘CAME A HOT FRIDAY’

An Orion Classics release. Director Ian Mune. Producer Larry Parr. Screenplay Dean Parker, Mune, from the novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson. Camera Alun Bollinger. Editor Ken Zemke. Music Stephen McCurdy. Designer Ron Highfield. Art director John Miles. Sound Hammond Peek. With Peter Bland, Philip Gordon, Don Selwyn, Michael Lawrence, Marise Wipani, Marshall Napier, Billy T. James, Patricia Phillips.

MPAA-rated: PG (parental guidance suggested).

Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.