Eagle Vs. Shark

Passion ignites at an animal-themed costume party

By ALICIA POTTER | June 20, 2007

2.0 Stars

VIDEO: Watch the trailer for Eagle Vs. Shark.

If you believe New Zealand writer/director Taika Waititi’s smugly wacky romantic comedy, love means never having to admit you deserve better than a dour dork with nunchucks. Passion ignites at an animal-themed costume party, where timid Lily (Loren Horsley) finally catches the eye of her hulking, mulleted crush, Jarrod (Jemaine Clement). Never mind that he turns out to be violent, self-absorbed, mendacious, and creepy in the sack; Lily slavishly takes on the fixer-upper. The requisite indie road trip — Jarrod plots to kick his high-school nemesis’s ass — piles on contrived reasons for his “depression,” and we never discover why the metamorphosing Lily tolerates the abuse. Too bad the film’s most appealing chap, Lily’s goofy brother Damien (Joel Tobeck, nailing the world’s worst Austin Powers imitation), stays home. Kitschy animation and Horsley’s rubbery beauty provide a double dose of whimsy, but nothing can overcome Jarrod’s utter beastliness.

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Topics: Reviews , Austin Powers, Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement

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