The Wannabes (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio Alternate Audio-Kids Version - Coarse Language Deleted Music Video-'Smelly Socks' And 'The Christmas Song' , The Wannabes Music Video-'I Wanna Wake Up With You', David Franj Gallery-Poster And Photo Gallery Storyboards Featurette-Making Of Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	91:35
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (50:18)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Nick Giannopoulos
Studio Distributor	Macquarie Film Corp Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Nick Giannopoulos Russell Dykstra Isla Fisher Felix Williamson Michael Carman
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	David Hirschfelder

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Alternate Audio Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The Wannabes is a truly awful movie. Poorly written and poorly made, I could not help but feel embarrassed for those that were involved in its production. With so many talented people in Australia, it often amazes me the utter rubbish that gets funded (often with our tax dollars), at the expense of other potentially successful (and enjoyable) projects.

    The Wannabes tells the story of Danny (played by Nick Giannopoulos as an adult). Danny is humiliated on national television as a child, but his stage-mum still manages to convince him that he's a great singer/dancer. Now a deluded adult, and still dreaming of stardom, Danny is hired by a group of "wannabes", and given the challenge of turning this group of losers into a successful children's act similar to The Wiggles or Hi-5. The idea offers plenty of comic potential, but sadly it is not realized.

    Since his successful stage show, Wogs Out of Work (1987), Nick Giannopoulos has had a string of successful wog-related projects ranging from stand-up comedy, to stage shows, to his film The Wog Boy. The Wannabes is Giannopoulos' first non-wog related project, and it's a real stinker! Produced, written, directed, and starring Giannopoulos, The Wannabes is a 35mm-wank, dripping with countless and obvious faults in both its concept and execution. For example, the script is so poorly written and constructed, that I am astounded that it was ever green-lit for filming in that condition.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness, shadow detail, and black level are all fine.

    The colour is good, and features plenty of bright primary colours, which suits the film's theme.

    There are no problems with MPEG artefacts or film-to-video artefacts. A few tiny film artefacts appear throughout, but they were never distracting.

    Strangely, there are no subtitles present on the DVD.

    This is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed at 50:18. The disc I had to review did not change smoothly, and the layer change was very disruptive.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are three audio options on this DVD: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s), and an English Alternate Audio Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) soundtrack. This last option has all "Coarse Language Deleted", and I cover it in the Extras section.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are fine on the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Obviously the sync is often out with the "alternate" audio track.

    The musical score is credited to David Hirschfelder, and is very cartoonish in style, and filled with effects. A few songs also appear throughout, and there are a few Wiggles type songs that the Wannabes perform.

    As a dialogue-based comedy, there is minimal surround presence and activity. The surround sound mix is very front-heavy, and I never noticed anything of interest from the rear speakers. There is also very little use of the LFE channel.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are a few extras included.

Menu

    A simple menu with audio.

Alternate Audio - Kids Version - Coarse Language Deleted

    This presents the film with the swearing removed. However, this still leaves a movie with dildos being waved around, and a lengthy scene in which a woman masturbates a man. While you don't actually see this graphically portrayed on screen (the camera stays on their faces), it's hardly acceptable for kids to watch.

Music Video-'Smelly Socks' And 'The Christmas Song', by The Wannabes

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

Music Video-'I Wanna Wake Up With You', by David Franj

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

Gallery-Poster And Photo Gallery

    28 stills from the production.

Storyboards

    A few storyboards are compared to the final screen shots.

Featurette-Making Of

    Hosted by Angela Bishop, and presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo, this featurette runs for about 21 minutes. Filled with self-congratulatory guff, this piece of marketing fluff is totally uninteresting.

Theatrical Trailer

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

    It seems that our R1 cousins have been spared this drivel.

    The Wannabes is a boring, pointless, unintelligent, and childish attempt at humour that should be avoided.

    The video quality is fine.

    The audio quality is also okay, albeit quite front-heavy.

    There are a few extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall