I rushed to the cinemas to see Jimeoin?s first cinematic release, ?The Craic?, and I must say the laughs didn?t come thick and fast so I decided to wait for the DVD release of film number 2, ?The Extra? and save my money. Before watching ?The Extra? I wondered if there would be any improvement evident from the first load of tripe or if I could at least have a few more chuckles. Sadly the answer to both my ponderings was a big fat NO. ?The Extra? would have to be one of the worst films of all time and proves yet again what I have always believed, and that is that Australia film makers have produced very few cinematic success stories. This film even makes ?The Wannabes? look good and should tell Jimeoin that he needs to stick to stand up comedy, cos? he is no actor!!

The film revolves around Jimeoin?s character (he is a nameless extra) who is looking for fame and fortune in the movie business. He wants to star in the blockbuster films and meet all the beautiful people in the film industry but the best he can do is landing roles as an extra. His current film project is ?The Eternal Flame 3?, where he dreams of romancing the leading lady, Catherine Arena (Kristy Hinze), but the closest he gets to bedding an actress is when he picks up another extra Claudia (Katherine Slattery) on the bus home after work. A bit of trivia, Catherine Arena is actually Jimeoin?s real wife?s name. Isn?t that sweet!

The Extra eventally meets up with Curtis Thai-Buckworth (Rhys Muldoon), who was once a child prodigy but who now finds himself as an extra in ?The Eternal Flame? too. Curtis is trying to make a trailer for a film to show to a film financier in the hope of getting some funds to pay off loan shark Marko (Bob Franklin). The Extra gets the lead role in the trailer, after the trailer?s leading man Marko, and Curtis? girlfriend have an accident on the film?s set after they are caught together in an uncompromising position. Policeman and star of his own television program ?Crime Catchers?, Detective Ridley (Shaun Micallef), is also keen on a role in this trailer while at the same time trying to find out who is responsible for stealing equipment from ?The Eternal Flame? set and for a robbery at a hair salon.

Just when things are looking up for the Extra, Marko steals the only copy of the trailer before Curtis can show it to a financial backer. To make matters worse, the Extra?s girlfriend gets all upset when Catherine Arena, the famous actress, tries to pursue her man. Give me a break, an actress falling for an extra, yeah right! What will become of Curtis and Ridley? Will Claudia forgive her nameless suitor? Will the Extra become the star he always wanted to be? All will be revealed at the film premiere of ?The Eternal Flame 3?, if you stay awake that long. My fellow film watcher didn?t find out cos? he fell asleep half way through the debacle.

Jimeoin just wasn?t really funny in this film and I really admire him as a stand up comedian. The only real laughs I got were when he went to his other job in the film, a dancer in a gay bar. Jimeoin in those sexy shorts was a sight in itself. I did have the odd giggle early on but they were too few and far between. Kristy Hinze probably needs to stick to modelling, as she had the worst American accent I have ever heard, and her acting talents weren?t much better. Shaun Micallef wasn?t much better either. He and Rhys Muldoon overacted and were just annoying. Probably the only decent acting performance belonged to Bob Franklin, who played the thug Marko. I think comedians should stick to stand up and leave acting to the experts. Russell Gilbert, Michael Veitch, Colin Lane (aka Lano) and Livinia Nixon all had small roles in this film. They should also stick to their day jobs, if they still have one.

Overall, I think the casting crew need to have a long hard look at themselves. The acting was dreadful. The script was dreadful. The film, to me had no purpose at all. I don?t really know what the moral of the story was and I don?t really care to be honest. The only thing I enjoyed was the fact that the film was shot in Melbourne as I like working out where the various locations were. This film was based on a short film in a film festival and probably should have remained as one instead of 91 minutes of drivel. Please Jimeoin, please don?t contemplate a third film. If you do, please find somebody else to act in it and find a decent script writer. This film will certainly not be gracing my television screen again.

THE EXTRAS

There is Scene Selection and a few other extras available on ?The Extra? DVD:

They are:

1) Audio commentary by Jimeoin. I did not bother, I couldn?t bear to sit through the film again.

2) ?Behind the Scenes? (13 minutes) Just footage of, you guessed it, behind the scenes action. There is no voice over or anything. It shows actors getting make up applied and ?The Eternal Flame 3? set being made. The only highlight for me was seeing Jimeoin standing under a Collingwood umbrella.

3) A Little Extra About ?The Extra? (21 minutes) This featurette was hosted by Richard Wilkins and was made for television (Channel 9 I assume). It has a little bit of footage of Jimeoin as a stand up comedian, what he does best, and has a little scene from ?The Craic?, his first movie. The rest of the featurette has the actors talking about making the movie, and of course how much fun they had. I did get a little giggle from Jimeoin?s stand up routine.

4) Stills Gallery (4.5 minutes) Just photos of the cast. Very boring!

5) Trailers There are trailers of ?The Extra?, ?Upside Of Anger?, ?Man Of The House? and ?You and Your Stupid Mate?. ?The Extra? trailer runs for 2 minutes and as usual shows all the films best bits.

CONCLUSION

?The Extra? is comedian Jimeoin?s second attempt at acting and the film and his performance isn?t any better than the first effort ?The Craic?. They would probably both rate in the bottom five worst comedies ever made by Australian film makers. This film has Jimeoin playing a nameless extra who dreams of fame and fortune and dating beautiful girls but in reality the only job offers he ever gets are non speaking roles. While on the set of ?The Eternal Flame 3? he meets Curtis (Rhys Muldoon) and after a series of events ends up as the lead actor on a trailer he is making in the hope that he can get financial backing to make the film and pay off a vindictive loan shark. Will this trailer be the break the extra and Curtis are looking for? If you think this storyline sounds lame then avoid this film like the plague because believe me there is pretty more lameness where that came from. Watch ?The Extra? only if you want a cure for insomnia.