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First-time Kiwi director Taika Waititi must be sick of people comparing his Sundance Festival favourite to Napoleon Dynamite. This review is going to do that anyway, as the resemblance is obvious and the trailer clearly went for a similar geeky comedy vibe. The main male character, here named Jarrod (Jermaine Clement), has a similar lack of social skills as Jon Heder's surprisingly popular portrayal yet seems to be oblivious of that fact, or at least seems to think he's concealing it. In Eagle Vs. Shark, though, the story revolves around a woman, co-writer Loren Horsley's loveably kind-hearted Lily. Her presence lifts the film considerably and keeps the viewer interested when the story later delves into sombre and slightly downbeat territory.
If it isn't clear already, Eagle Vs. Shark doesn't feature an enticing contest between two natural predators and is far from a nature documentary. The name refers to a fancy dress party where the lead pairing's romance (if it can be called that) begins. The guests all dress as animals, with Lily picking a shark and Jarrod the "slightly better" eagle. They fall for each other instantly - Jarrod attempting to maintain his macho façade the whole time - and then the film's main story reveals itself: Jarrod (who's probably scraping 30 by now) wants to return home to take revenge on a school bully. So the pair travel to Boringsville, New Zealand, where Jarrod spends a week 'training' and Lily gets mostly ignored. The minimal budget of the film shows on screen but it doesn't harm the film; it just means that its pacing is leisurely and dialogue is paramount.
There's an autobiographical feeling to the film, and whether that is misleading or not it does deal very honestly with some difficult emotions – Lily's parents are dead and she is very close to her brother, while Jarrod has recently lost his brother in tragic circumstances. Sometimes Waititi tries too hard to be quirky; the occasional stop-motion vignettes are a step too far, while almost every character has an eccentric trait (Jarrod's sister and her husband have an unsuccessful brand of hideous self-designed tracksuits, Lily's brother does terrible impressions, and so on). Jarrod's introspective personality leads to some hearty laughs, but also at times makes him unlikeable. The constant awkwardness of the characters in company becomes tiring after a while, but thankfully the romance and humour is good-natured enough to weather the flaws.
The summary
A sometimes very funny comedy focusing on the less privileged side of the social spectrum, Eagle Vs. Shark is worth seeing for mildly offbeat amusement.
