User Reviews

John Waters is very believable as a bouncer. This surprised me as I have seen him in many other roles and never thought he could be convincing in this type of role. The story was very good and kept moving along. The dialog was fast and witty. I liked the idea of this being the old bouncer's last night and the young new bouncer was working for the first time. A nice passing of the baton story. The movie seemed low budget only in that there were very few locations. John Waters' acting was great as is usual for him and the other actors put in good performances. I had to look away a few times as the fighting seemed so real. The lighting, camera work and makeup seemed fine. I never noticed the makeup flaws pointed out in a previous review. A good little Aussie movie.

I will admit to being biased first up. I am a lifelong John Waters fan and run his fansite. Disclaimers out of the way ! I first saw The Bouncer at the cast and crew screening last year. Saw it again when it got its cinema release. I really enjoyed it. I thought it realistically portrayed the Perth club scene and had a nice gritty feel to it. Johns narrative is the highlight for me, along with some of the plot twists and flashbacks. I loved the opening credits too. The casts performances are all great. There is violence and language - so obviously the film is not for kids. I hope it gets a DVD release and more independent films get support out there.

Poor John Waters, he of "Play School" fame and favourite of the late seventies early eighties Australian film set, where is your career heading? With little to work with in terms of character Waters maintains a detached sense of delivery throughout the film while projecting a sense of embarrassment for the poor level of acting provided by his supporting cast. The standouts in his supporting cast are surprisingly the women, Rose McKenna is fun as the spoiled society lady and Jules McCutcheon (?) an absolute hoot as one of Water's character's former flames. Nunzio LaBianca (Aussie park boyz) is solid as the bad guy. There's a nightclub, a crap dj, stolen diamonds, a bouncer rookie, bikies and girls galore. While only a short film, from memory it ran for only seventy or so minutes, everyone seems to do the best they can. Everyone that is but whoever is responsible for that LUDICROUS makeup. I'm sure like most Aussie films the budget was tight, but when you can see wounds moving around the faces of the actors and in some cases actually peeling off it's a little hard to take seriously. Perhaps some professional training? The script is fun and tight, sure some of the gags are totally cheesy and clichéd but that's where the actors have all their fun. Low budget yes, but a lot of fun nonetheless.