The Coca-Cola Kid [DVD]

Description

Product Description Starring Academy AwardÂ(r) nominee* Eric Roberts (Runaway Train) and Emmy winner** Greta Scacchi (The Red Violin), this "wacky comedy" (Leonard Maltin) is full of clever fun, lighthearted romance, and an enchanting Aussie-American charm! "Abundantly rewarding" (Los Angeles Times) and "filled with moments of inspiration" (Roger Ebert), The Coca-Cola Kid celebrates both the Outback way of life and American pride! Ex-marine turned Coca-Cola marketing guru Becker (Roberts) is on a mission to boost sales in Australia when he discovers a dry spot in the Outback, where everyone is guzzling a homegrown brewand not a drop of his company's cola! Determined to pop the top off his competitor, Becker tries to reason with the crafty soda maker but ends upfalling for his free-spirited daughter (Scacchi) who really shakes things up. Will everything fizzle or end up in perfect harmony? The answer is a delightful blend of romance and comedy that's sure to refresh you! *Supporting Actor, Runaway Train (1985) **Supporting Actressin a Miniseries, "Rasputin" (1996) desertcart.com Eric Roberts, young, charming, and handsome, does a rare comic turn as an American Coca-Cola executive with a honeyed Georgia drawl sent Down Under in this congenial little Australian comedy. As the zealous, unfailingly polite eccentric declares economic war on a veritable back-country feudal lord who runs his own steam-powered soda plant (Bill Kerr), Roberts’s enchantingly goofy secretary (Greta Scacchi) plots a campaign of seduction that includes a Santa suit that explodes in an orgiastic blizzard of feathers. Yugoslavian director Dusan Makavejev (Montenegro), hardly known for romantic comedy, brings a surprisingly light touch to the comedy and a sweet sexiness to the offbeat love story. The script veers into scenes that make no sense and gets bogged down in the cola wars, but Makavejev buoys the film with unexpected turns, delightful moments of beauty and joy, and a genial, generous sense of humor. --Sean Axmaker Review: Quirky but Great - One of my all time favorite movies; great soundtrack, plot that keeps moving, stunning visuals of the Australian landscape and a cozy lovestory. I've always been an Eric Robert fan and i think he did a great job here. Quirky but great. Review: Uneven Dusan Makavejev comedy, lightened by offbeat acting - Not one of Makavejev's best, and fans probably shun it as a "commercial job," but it's charming in the same vein that Bill Forsyth's 80s comedies were. Come to think of it, COCA-COLA KID was probably geared to cash in on the success of GREGORY'S GIRL and LOCAL HERO. Still, the story about a big city, American "corporate troubleshooter" raising capitalistic hell with some wacky Aussie has its moments. Eric Roberts is superb as a lean, clean, ex-Marine, preaching and drawlin' his way through an office wasteland in search of trouble to root out and resolve. He runs amuck of skeptical executives, a ultra-cute divorcee with an instant crush, her cute as a button daughter, an old-fashioned, rural soda pop maker, and a subversive hotel bell hop who's convinced he's a CIA operative. Result: nothing like the Atlanta executives intended in sending their "miracle worker" down under. The plotline seems to sputter out as the story digs in; that is, when the action and dialog are fast and furious, the film's utterly charming. (The DVD is worth its price for Roberts' near-religious presentation on the worldwide appeal of Coca-Cola.) But when it all has to slow down to bring the story up to date, the sparkle dims. Still, Roberts and Greta Scacchi (as the smitten secretary) are great. Watch for Tim Finn doing a costar turn as well as composing some of the soundtrack.