Watch 'The Castle'. See if You Agree That it's the Funniest Australian Comedy Ever Made.]

By JESSE KORNBLUTH

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It’s one headline cascading on another now. Few will make you smile. This movie will.

Darryl Kerrigan and his family are good-hearted, if not overly bright, and we know this immediately because their house, which was built on toxic landfill, is just a chain-link fence from the landing strip of a large airport. All is joy until a man knocks on the door to deliver an order: a ”compulsory acquisition” with a buyout price of $70,000. Darryl decides to fight back. Watch the trailer.

Darryl isn’t the only one who can’t buy a clue in this Aussie version of “Dumb and Dumber.” He hires Dennis Denuto as his lawyer. Dennis mostly does repossessions. In court, he’s a disaster. Watch him make what, to him, is a legal argument.

I am here to tell you “The Castle” is the funniest Australian comedy ever made — but then, how many Australian comedies can you name? It was filmed on a $750,000 budget in just 11 days; the filmmakers chose the name Kerrigan because they wanted to use trucks from Kerrigan’s Towing, a real life tow-truck company in Melbourne. Released in 1999, “The Castle” made the rounds of American art theaters, convulsing tiny audiences. Before they had a chance to see it again with their loved ones, it was gone. But the gods want you to laugh, and now you can stream it. [To rent the stream from Amazon, click here.]

Whatever you think in the first twenty minutes of “Law and Order,” you’re wrong — the first suspect didn’t do it. “The Castle” is structured like that. You think Darryl’s a hopeless buffoon. When he tastes something new on the chicken, he asks his wife what it is. “Seasoning,” she says proudly. He beams: “Seasoning! Looks like everybody’s kicked a goal!”

But as you watch, your feelings will change. You’ll start laughing at repeated lines you once thought inane, namely “Ah, the serenity!” and “He must be dreaming” and “It’s the vibe.” Soon you’re not laughing at these people, but with them. And hoping, in the words of one of the many mottos of the Texas Rangers, “ Little man whip a big man every time if the little man is in the right and keeps on coming.”

Lovable characters, a plot that children can grasp, no sex, only a few “curse words” — this is that rarest of fun: fun for the whole family. You’ll even fall in love with Dennis Denuto.

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BREAKING NEWS: “Trust” just won the Pulitzer Prize, shared — for the first time in the history of these awards —with “Demon Copperhead.” The citation: “A riveting novel set in a bygone America that explores family, wealth and ambition through linked narratives rendered in different literary styles, a complex examination of love and power in a country where capitalism is king.” For my review, click here.

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This post was previously published on headbutler.com.

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