''Ruben Guthrie'' is a 2015 Australian romantic

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

starring

Patrick Brammall Patrick Brammall (born 30 March 1976) is an Australian actor and writer. He is best known for his roles as Sean Moody in the ABC comedy '' A Moody Christmas''; as Leo Taylor in Series 5 of Channel Ten's ''Offspring;'' and as Sergeant James Ha ...

as the title character, with

Alex Dimitriades Alex Dimitriades (born 28 December 1973) is an Australian actor and DJ. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Nick Polides in the 1993 romantic comedy film '' The Heartbreak Kid'', and Nick Poulos in the 1994 television teen drama spin-off ' ...

and

Abbey Lee Kershaw Abbey Lee Kershaw (born 12 June 1987) known professionally as Abbey Lee, is an Australian model, actress and musician. Following several years of success leading up to the 2011 fashion seasons, '' V'' magazine dubbed her a supermodel, and Mode ...

in supporting roles. The film was written and directed by

Brendan Cowell Brendan Cowell is an Australian actor, playwright, and director. Early life and education Cowell was born in Sydney and grew up in the beachside suburb of Cronulla. He credits his mother and high school drama teacher with encouraging him to ...

, based on his play of the same name.

Plot summary

Life is good for Ruben Guthrie (

), who works as an advertisement executive and leads a lifestyle of a party boy and lives in a house on the water with his model fiancée. He's at the top of his game until Ruben lands at the bottom of his infinity pool from some drunken skylarking. Ruben's fiancée leaves him, but says she'll get back with him if he can go a year without drinking.

Cast

as Ruben Guthrie *

as Zoya Houbec *

as Damian *

Harriet Dyer Harriet Dyer (born 17 October 1988) is an Australian actress. She is best known for starring in the television series '' Love Child'' (2014–2017) and ''No Activity'' (2015–2018). She has also appeared in films, most notably ''The Invisible M ...

as Virginia *Yvonne Cowell as Vonny *

Jeremy Sims Jeremy Hartley Sims (born 10 January 1966) is an Australian actor and director. Career Jeremy Sims was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1966, and was educated at Wesley College 1977–83. His first appearance on the big screen was as 'boy on ...

as Ray *Aaron Bertram as Ken *Michael Lahoud as Jeremy *

Brenton Thwaites Brenton Thwaites (born 10 August 1989) is an Australian actor. Beginning his career in his home country in 2011, he had a starring role on the series ''Slide'' and later appeared on the soap opera ''Home and Away''. Since moving to the United S ...

as Chet *

Robyn Nevin Robyn Anne Nevin (25 September 1942) is an Australian actress, director, and stage producer, recognised with the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards and the JC Williamson Award at the Helpmann Awards for her outstanding contributions to Austra ...

as Susan Guthrie *

Jack Thompson Jack Thompson may refer to: Sports * Jack Thompson (footballer, born 1892) (1892–1969), English footballer who played for Sheffield United and Bristol City * Jack Thompson (1920s footballer), English footballer who played for Aston Villa and Brig ...

as Peter Guthrie *Blazey Best as Janelle *Elly Oh as Sun Ye *

Natasha Beaumont Natasha Elisabeth Beaumont (born 21 June 1974) is a Malaysian-born British-Australian actress and model. Beaumont was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She grew up in Kuala Lumpur, attended boarding school in Sydney and moved at age 20 to attend ...

as Sheridan *Bill Thompson as Harry *

Leon Ford Leon Ford is an Australian actor who has appeared in many television and theatre productions. He is best known for his roles in the television series ''The Cooks'', ''Changi'' and the telemovie ''Stepfather of the Bride''. Biography Ford portray ...

as Dimitri * Francis Mossman as Lorenzo Oil

Production

The screenplay, written by

, is based on his play of the same name.

Reception

''Ruben Guthrie'' received mixed to positive reviews from critics, earning a 60% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 10 reviews. Luke Buckmaster of "Guardian" called it "an initially archetypal trajectory (boy loses girl; boy goes on mission to get her back) becomes something curlier and less conventional." CJ Johnson of ABC Radio gave a positive review, saying it "sails breezily along with terrific dialogue, great performances and an extremely relatable story. It's excellent contemporary entertainment, the kind of character and situation-based comedy the French do so well but Australian cinema, not so much." Jim Schembri of 3AW gave a negative review, writing "It might be a case of something essential getting lost in the translation, but first-time director

's adaptation of his play about an alcoholic advertising man on the road to redemption is a well-intentioned mess."

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2019 2015 romantic drama films Australian romantic drama films 2015 films 2010s English-language films