Bogans

In a small country, even one major film can make a big economic impact. Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings trilogy and its Hobbit prequels supported thousands of small businesses in New Zealand, creating a huge number of jobs. The most sought-after, of course, were jobs in the films themselves. This locally produced short follows three bogans who, after hearing about plans for the first film, set out to try and get parts as hobbits.

If you're not familiar with the term 'bogan', it's roughly synonymous with Scots 'ned' or what is known in some parts of England as a chav. These particular bogans still manage a fair degree of charm, enthusiastic and hapless as they are, but the film relies on this a little too heavily. The comedy in their escapades, whether risking their lives to steal free phone calls or haggling over the price of burgers (with Madeleine Sami's sullen waitress the highlight of the film), is entertaining in as far as it goes but lacks real punch. At 21 minutes in length, this really needs about six minutes cut out of it in order to tighten it up.

That said, there's some nice observational humour here and the film succeeds in making us root for the characters rather than simply laugh at them. In highlighting how little clue many people had about The Lord Of The Rings before Jackson's films, it's a nice antidote to the latter day mythology built up around them, and it harks back to Jackson's own scummy low budget film-making past. There's also a nice cameo from Jackson himself at the end. It's an effective bit of light entertainment that will please less reverent Tolkein fans.