Paul Hogan stars in the meta-comedy The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee

The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee is a meta-comedy starring Paul Hogan as himself, the man who starred in the classic ‘80s comedy Crocodile Dundee. I don’t care what you say, it didn’t get a sequel. It didn’t.

It’s directed by Dean Murphy, whose last project was another meta-comedy (2018’s That’s Not My Dog! in which Hogan also made one of his rare appearances), and he co-wrote the script with Robert Mond (The Subjects). The movie is also headlined by Chevy Chase, John Cleese, and Olivia Newton-John. Initially slated for release in theatres in April, that didn’t happen for obvious reasons, and instead it was released exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on July, however that exclusivity period is ending soon and it’ll be heading to on-demand services in December.

The official plot synopsis is as follows:

Paul Hogan plays himself in this raucous comedy. Retired in L.A. and overshadowed by his Crocodile Dundee character, Hogan is offered a knighthood by the Queen of England. But before he can accept it, Hogan gets caught up in a series of comical scandals that dominate gossip shows and social media feeds. Can he keep his reputation clean long enough to hang onto his prize — and his dignity?

Let’s take a look:

Well whoever wrote that synopsis should be told raucous isn’t a synonym for bland, because that’s what this looks like – pretty damn bland. The only thing that’s possibly appealing is the meta-angle the movie’s going for based off Hogan’s Crocodile Dundee, and how that role has dominated his life. Otherwise this just seems rather stale and tired, and it would be hard to recommend to anyone who didn’t grow up with Crocodile Dundee.

What do you think?

P.S. In case you were wondering that wasn’t just a throw-away joke about his acting ability and the Oscars, he and his co-writes really did get a Best Writing Oscar nomination for Crocodile Dundee, and Hogan won a Golden Globe for his performance as well.

The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee will debut on on-demand on 11 December. It also stars Jacob Elordi, Reginald VelJohnson, Wayne Knight, Paul Fenech, Shane Jacobsen, Kerry Armstrong, and Rachel Carpani.

Last Updated: October 23, 2020