'Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug?' Review: Mick Connolly’s Feature Debut Is a Quirky, Big-Hearted Australian Comedy

 

‘Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug?’ 

Review: Mick Connolly’s Quirky 

Australian Comedy Has Heart

Kyle McCallion stars as Thomas, a wealthy loner who finds an unlikely friend in Deacon (Don Bridges), in Mick Connolly’s funny Australian feature debut.

Mick Connolly’s “Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug?” is a funny Australian comedy about loneliness, friendship and the often ridiculous ways people try to avoid admitting they need one another. It is also a strong debut from a director who understands that the best comic characters are not polished. They are difficult, insecure, petty, overeager and, when the writing is good enough, impossible to dismiss.

Thomas (Kyle McCallion) has money but no friends (Courtesy Photo)

Thomas (Kyle McCallion) has money but no friends. He sobers up Deacon (Don Bridges), a homeless drunk, and decides they'll become friends. It is an awkward proposition from the start, and Connolly wisely does not make it tidy. Thomas wants companionship, but he also wants to control the terms of it.

A second friendship story runs alongside theirs. Thomas’s bogan neighbor discovers that his best mate once had a “life-changing sex marathon” with the woman who is now his girlfriend. That piece of information becomes a private obsession and then a public problem. Connolly uses the situation for broad laughs, but he also understands what sits beneath it: jealousy, humiliation and the terror of feeling replaceable.

Thomas (Kyle McCallion) sobers up Deacon (Don Bridges), a homeless drunk, and decides they'll become friends (Courtesy Photo)

McCallion carries the film as Thomas, a character who could easily have become unbearable in less capable hands. He is needy, overconfident, socially clumsy, and, at times, completely blind to how he comes across. Yet McCallion makes him likable because Thomas is not pretending. The performance gives him an open, almost childlike need to be accepted.

His faults are his charm.  I wanted more of Thomas, faults and all. I would be his best friend in a second.

Bridges brings a relaxed, unpredictable quality to Deacon. He never plays him as a mere obstacle in Thomas’s plan or as a convenient source of chaos. Deacon shifts the balance of the film each time he appears, and Bridges gives the character enough humor and presence to make the friendship feel reciprocal, even when it is plainly heading toward trouble.

Connolly writes, directs, and produces with a feel for awkwardness that is specific rather than manufactured. His jokes emerge from people saying too much, hearing the wrong thing, or hanging on to resentments long after everyone else has moved on. The film’s Australian setting and comic sensibility give it a bluntness that works in its favor.

He also has a good eye for supporting characters. Even the smaller roles feel like they belong to people with lives beyond the scene. That attention keeps the film from becoming a string of setups and punch lines.

“Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug?” was shot in Melbourne on an iPhone 13 over 16 days, with a volunteer cast and crew, on a $40,000 micro-budget. The scale shows, at times, but it never overwhelms the movie’s personality.    Connolly had tried for years to get a feature made before he read Robert Rodriguez’s “Rebel Without a Crew,” the filmmaker’s account of making “El Mariachi” without conventional backing.

“I’d been trying to get a movie made for years—then I read Robert Rodriguez’s book ‘Rebel Without a Crew,’” Connolly said. “The book made me realise I didn’t need a lot of money or permission from anyone. I just needed to get out there and do it.”

Thank you, Robert Rodriguez. Good looking out.

Connolly took that lesson seriously. His debut has the rough edges of a genuinely independent production, but those edges suit the material. The oddness is not a flaw. It is the point.

Behind the Camera

Cinematographer Jaems Grant gives the film a clean visual approach that keeps the focus on performance. Grant has worked as a director of photography for 40 years and has received more than 30 awards, including three Australian Cinematographers Society Golden Tripods. His credits include “Head On,” “Nowhere Boys,” “Offspring,” “Round the Twist,” “Halifax f.p.,” “The Time of Our Lives,” “The Secret Life of Us” and “The Cult That Stole Children: The Family.”

Editor Michael Houlahan keeps the pacing steady, especially when the film leans into discomfort. A winner of Best Editing at the St Kilda Film Festival, Houlahan has also received editing awards for his advertising work.

Sound designer Shakeel Rehman, making his first feature after work on short films, gives the picture a light touch. The sound design supports the comedy without competing with it.

I hope that Connolly, who has directed television commercials in Australia and overseas for 30 years, with a focus on comedy, is shaping this film into a series.  It's perfectly poised to become a cult hit like "The Office."  He has also written and directed television drama, children’s television and award-winning short films.

“Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug?” is his first feature. It should not be his last.

“A laugh-out-loud comedy with a big heart—Mick Connolly’s ‘Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug?’ is a smart, warmly off-kilter celebration of friendship, failure, and the beautifully flawed people we choose as family.”

— Lapacazo Sandoval, Amsterdam News Curtain Raiser

“Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug?” is available to rent or buy on Prime Video and can be tracked for current streaming and purchase options through JustWatch.

Hands Up Who’d Like a Hug? is available to rent or buy on Prime Video a  JustWatch (  https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/hands-up-whod-like-a-hug  )