WISH YOU WERE HERE - Review

Alice and Dave (Felicity Price and Joel Edgerton), married with two kids and another on the way, and Jeremy and Steph (Anthony Starr and Teresa Palmer) only a few months into a new relationship. Steph convinces her sister Alice to come on holiday with her and Jeremy partly due to the newness of her relationship and party so that Alice and Dave can have a bit of fun before the increased responsibilities a third child will bring. None of them know that much about Jeremy and what he does, other than importing items from Asia to Australia and making a hefty profit.

On their last night the two couples go to what I'm assuming is a full moon party, pop some pills and really let loose. Unfortunately for them, something goes horribly wrong on their last night and only three of them make it back. Or does it? Jeremy has in fact said that in the ultimate fantasy he would stay right where he was and never leave, so is that what he did? I don't want to say too much here because it's the mystery of this film that really carries you through, but the film transitions beautifully through the present day in Sydney and the very recent past, hinting at what might have happened, what could have happened and what shouldn't have happened.

The film is fantastically directed by Kieran Darcy-Smith, who co-wrote the script with wife and leading lady Felicity Price, and keeps you guessing simply by revealing tid-bits of information in seemingly random order, Edgerton, Price and Palmer (sounds like a law firm!) have done a splendid job with these characters and I really believed in what they were going through.

I'm going to say that if you enjoyed ANIMAL KINGDOM, you might well enjoy WISH YOU WERE HERE, while it's not quite as "blow you away" it is really well done, and got some good exposure at Sundance earlier in the year.

The ending is a little soft, and whilst it does tie up all the lose ends, I felt a little rushed and slightly disappointed. For that reason I'm giving WISH YOU WERE HERE 3.5 out of 5.