Alex Proyas, director of The Crow and Dark City, switches gears for the lightweight romantic comedy Garage Days. Set in the Sydney suburb of Newtown, Freddy (Kick Gurry) really wants his band to make it big. The band consists of his girlfriend Tanya (Pia Miranda) on bass, the drugged-out Lucy (Chris Sadrinna) on drums, and the mopey Joe (Brett Stiller) on guitar. Their inept manager, Bruno (Russell Dykstra), thinks they can get successful if they hook up with record executive Shad Kern (Marton
Csokas). However, the band develops personal problems when Joe's girlfriend Kate (Maya Stange) announces she's pregnant and falls for Freddy, then gothic girl Angie (Yvette Duncan) seduces Joe, and Tanya gets involved with Lucy. Garage Days premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
Though the storytelling is a bit lopsided, the slapdash quality is charming overall, and the movie benefits from colorful characters and a couple of hilarious scenes.
Its sense of fun is infectious enough that it doesn't make a huge difference that it's light on the story side. Coupled with the visual style and the top-notch choice of music, it makes for a fun, if lightweight, experience.
While the plot line may not be overly complicated and Lynchian, it is in no way formulaic or simple either. Proyas leaves you wanting you to see his characters thrive, not necessarily as a band, but as friends.
Proyas strays from the formula just often enough to keep us on our toes. The remainder is too slight and harmless to really condemn... even when it slips into cliché.
Imagine Trainspotting developed into a network TV show, then sold to HBO at the last minute so they could add swearing. Also the tag line, "what if you finally got your big break, and you just plain sucked?" totally spoils the movie. Imagine the tag line for planet of the apes being "what if you found a planet
inhabited by monkeys, and it turned out it was Earth?"
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