The Merger and Book Week: two comedies – different souls
Two indy comedies out in 2018 - what do they tell us about the State of the Form? Does it really belong on television?
5 Nov 2018
Anthony Morris
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Television
Image: promo shot for The Merger nails its essential sweetness.
Today Australian comedy isn’t exactly thriving on the big screen. Having two local comedies – The Merger in late August and then Book Week in October – in cinemas almost back to back is a break from the norm: there were maybe (depending on how you defined Ali’s Wedding) three local comedies released during all of 2017. It’s a far cry from a few decades ago, when The Castle launched Working Dog as a powerhouse production company and Crackerjack was the highest grossing Australian film of 2002.
Anthony Morris is a freelance film and television writer. He’s been a regular contributor to The Big Issue, Empire Magazine, Junkee, Broadsheet, The Wheeler Centre and Forte Magazine, where he’s currently the film editor. Other publications he’s contributed to include Vice, The Vine, Kill Your Darlings (where he was their online film columnist), The Lifted Brow, Urban Walkabout and Spook Magazine. He’s the co-author of hit romantic comedy novel The Hot Guy, and he’s also written some short stories he’d rather you didn’t mention.
You can follow him on Twitter @morrbeat and read some of his reviews on the blog It’s Better in the Dark.
