In some respects, ‘Not Suitable for Children’ is too cool for school. The Australian movie is so indie that the Wikipedia article, so far, consists of one not particularly descriptive line. Unsurprisingly, this lack of notoriety has resulted in prospective audiences that are uniformly clad in skinny jeans, flannel shirts, oversized glasses and a mobile fog of “Rockstar” hairspray. In other words, ‘Not Suitable for Children’ could be used as the masthead film of the Hipster Generation.

Indeed, even the basic plot of the movie sounds like a pretentious mishmash of various hyper-realistic pseudocomedies starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, or some other underdeveloped manchild who looks good in a beanie. In this case, the role of intense woolen hat-wearer falls on the lean Ryan Kwanten of “True Blood” fame.

Jonah (no surname) is a single, directionless, twenty-something party animal who lives with his two best friends, Stevie (Sarah Snook) and Gus (Ryan Corr), in the house left to him by his recently deceased mother. Jonah’s primary form of income is derived through hosting massive house-parties fueled by incredible amounts of drugs and alcohol. It is during one of these ragers, that a lump is discovered on Jonah’s testicle. The diagnosis is testicular cancer, and, as an eventual consequence, post-operative sterility.

In view of this prognosis, Jonah sets his mind to conceiving a child before his operation occurs, a few weeks in the future. That’s right, ‘Not Suitable for Children’ is essentially an Australian amalgamation of the American independent comedies, ‘Friends with Kids’ and ’50/50′– favorites amongst the cool kids. And, if the storyline was not enough, the most damning proof of this movie’s Hipsterdom undoubtedly lies in the presence of not one, not two, but three,“The Black Keys” songs featured prominently on the ubertrendy soundtrack.

But regardless of how one might feel about black nail polish and skillfully shaped facial hair, it is impossible not to appreciate how young, fresh, raw, well-made, and yes— cool— ‘Not Suitable for Children’ is. The movie approaches its subject with a wry, fairly unstudied, uniquely Australian wit that’s largely missing from ‘Friends with Kids’ and oozes a charming vivacity that, to a great extent,’50/50′ lacks.

Essentially, ‘Not Suitable for Children’ is stripped of the slick Hollywood self-consciousness that tends to stifle some of the unadulterated honesty that directors of lofi films claim to seek. Comparisons between ‘Not Suitable for Children’ and Diablo Cody’s  2011 ‘Young Adult’ would not go astray.

To be sure, it is amazing that a movie with such a contrived premise— things progress along fairly familiar lines— manages to appear both completely natural and decidedly watchable, despite the odd, unnecessarily abrupt, but nonetheless expected, plot turn. This movie is not trying too hard.

At least part of the credit must go to an incredibly fresh-faced performance by Snook, who is infinitely approachable and breathtakingly vulnerable. Kwanten, too, very capably fulfills his role as the bewildered, blank-faced, Jonah.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the film, is that it is stylistically stunning. Under Peter Templeman’s direction, the streets of Sydney burst with life, and Jonah’s parties are brash and intoxicating. The camera work is frankly beautiful, and manages to provide visual interest without disrupting in the least the narrative flow of the movie itself (the very graphic sex scenes are particularly well-shot. No doubt a labor of love.) A mixture of pushy Winding Refn-like non-diegetic and diegetic music brings everything together. The whole package is neat but powerful.

It’s a bloody cool movie, mate.

Grade: 4/5

Image Courtesy of   Not Suitable For Children

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Jason and Julie (Adam Scott and Jennifer Westfeldt) are single thirty-something Manhattanites. They’ve been best friends since college, they live in the same building, trust each other implicitly – and aren’t remotely attracted to each other.

As the film opens, they meet at a chic downtown restaurant for a dinner with their closest friends, two married couples: Leslie and Alex (Maya Rudolph and Chris O’ Dowd), funny and frank — and Ben and Missy (Jon Hamm and Kristen Wiig), such a sexy pair that they are in fact having a quickie in the restaurant bathroom when Julie and Jason arrive.

Jason notices the behavior of some unruly children being seated at the table next to them – and he and Julie riff on how inappropriate it is to bring kids to such a sophisticated place. But their comic rant is cut short when Leslie suddenly blurts out that she’s pregnant.

Mortified, Julie and Jason turn on a dime and congratulate their friends wholeheartedly – and earnestly:  it’s the first of their close friends to take the plunge. Leslie and Alex reassure them that they would never bring their kids to a fancy restaurant – they’re gonna be cool parents, and nothing is going to change.

Fast forward to four years later – and everything has changed.

Leslie and Alex have two kids, Missy and Ben have a newborn – and Jason and Julie, still single and childless, find themselves taking a long expensive cab ride to Alex and Leslie’s apartment in Brooklyn – on Jason’s birthday. They have brought the wine, the food, the cake, Julie has brought the only birthday gift for Jason – and when they arrive, the mood is not remotely festive. Their friends are sniping at each other, harried and utterly consumed by the demands of parenting.

On their way home from what proves to be a funny, entirely chaotic and thoroughly unsatisfying birthday celebration, Julie and Jason end up in a bar, wondering what’s happened to their friends – who now seem overwhelmed, exhausted, angry, humorless  – altogether unfamiliar.

Is this what happens when you have kids? Julie and Jason riff on whether you can maintain true romance in your life – and also have children. Jason offhandedly suggests that maybe they should have a kid together and beat the system – be with their kid half the time, and pursue unfettered, uncomplicated romance the other half.

It’s a funny joke… or is it?

Julie and Jason have their baby – Joe – and all is well. They are the most competent, functional, loving pair of unmarried, unattached parents one could hope to see (much to their friends’ chagrin), and they both start to date. Jason meets Maryjane (Megan Fox), a lithe Broadway dancer who is Jason’s physical ideal and Leslie introduces Julie to Kurt (Edward Burns), dashing, tall, impossibly kind – and recently divorced, with two kids of his own.

Have Julie and Jason beat the system?

Nothing proves as simple as they’d hoped. Their friends – who can’t help feeling they are part of the system Julie and Jason have set out to “beat” – are threatened by their friends’ choice and how well it seems to be working. And Julie, even as she gets more and more deeply involved with Kurt, finds herself falling hard for Jason – despite the fact that she’s thought of him as a brother for nearly two decades.

Having kids proves to be the crucible through which all of these friends’ lives are forever changed – in sweeping and surprising ways. There is great comedy and enormous feeling in this story about discovering the love of your life in the way you were least expecting.

‘Friends With Kids’ is set for major release in cinemas around the USA on March 9.

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