Movie Review: Kenny
By Maureen M. Hart, Tribune Staff Writer
In the tradition of "The Honeymooners' " Ed Norton, Australia's Kenny Smyth (Shane Jacobson) dives into sewage and surfs out smelling like a rose.
Kenny works for Melbourne's Splashdown portable toilet rental company, delivering, cleaning, unclogging and retrieving the instruments of salvation and sanitation for outdoor public gatherings of all sizes. Director Clayton Jacobson (co-author of the script with his brother Shane) takes a faux documentary approach to the life of his blue-collar hero, an agreeable divorced father who faces crises at work (clogged and dirty stalls, neurotic and homicidally inclined co-workers) and at home (an angry ex-wife and a judgmental father, played by the Jacobson brothers' father, Ronald).
Kenny, who has a talent for Alfred P. Doolittle-style philosophizing as he goes about his business, delivers his bons mots in a distinctive lateral lisp:
"There's a smell in here that will outlast religion."
"I'd love to be able to say, 'I plumb toilets,' and have someone say, 'Now that is something I've always wanted to do.'"
"I don't know what all the fuss is about, it's 80 percent water and we've got chemicals to take care of the remaining 20."
According to the press notes, this family affair (Clayton's son Jesse plays Kenny's child), took place with the cooperation of the real Splashdown company, filming over the course of two years, and the attention to detail is notable, even excessive (not sure I want to ever again ponder the effect of curried food on the portable toilet trade).
But just when you begin to think, "I'm liking this Kenny, but I'm getting sick of portable toilets," he's is off to Nashville for the International Pumper and Cleaner Expo. Shane Jacobson communicates genuine delight as the first member of his family to travel outside Australia and un-self-conscious pleasure in conferring with his fellow sanitation engineers as well as a friendly flight attendant. Shane is the perfect conduit for the film's theme of the pride to be had in honest work.
A hit and prizewinner in Australia, "Kenny" has the power to charm, no matter which way the water swirls.
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for crude content, language and partial nudity).
Running time: 1:39
Opening: Friday at the Gene Siskel Film Center.
Starring: Shane Jacobson (Kenny); Eve Von Bibra (Jackie); Ronald Jacobson (Father); Jesse Jacobson (Son); Chris Davis (Pat).
Directed, photographed and produced by Clayton Jacobson; screenplay by Clayton Jacobson and Shane Jacobson; edited by Clayton Jacobson and Sean Lander; music by Richard Pleasance; co-produced by Rohan Timlock.
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