Griff the Invisible Can Be Seen August 19
Reportedly well received at the Toronto International Film Festival, Australia’s Griff the Invisible is billed as a “quirky romantic comedy starring Ryan Kwanten and Maeve Dermody.” Not really an action film, this tale of a would-be hero is more like a date movie. It opens in theaters on Friday, August 19.
The comedy may be “quirky” but the characters are disastrously socially inept. Ryan Kwanten stars as Griff, a 28-year-old man whose lack of social skills makes him painful to watch. He’s a popular target for office bullies and a loner who spends a lot of time in his apartment when he’s not out fighting crime as a superhero. His ambition is to build a suit that renders him invisible.
Maeve Dermody is Melody, a woman dating but not interested in Griff’s brother (Patrick Brammall). When she meets Griff, she has met a kindred spirit, for Melody—an amateur physicist—is convinced that (if all the elements line up exactly right) she can pass through a wall due to the spaces between atoms. Her experimentation results in some nasty bumps on the head. Melody is unable to communicate with people (though she can talk to them) and is an outsider. She is also fantastically clumsy.
Despite its quirkiness, Griff the Invisible manages to be “Griff the Predictable,” with the odd couple slowly (as in s-l-o-w-l-y) coming together and then separating due to an incorrectly overheard conversation. Griff and Melody reunite as he tries to reinvent himself into what he believes she wants.
Some audiences will find Griff the Invisible absolutely charming, despite its predictability. Is this reviewer just too jaded for romantic fluff (the movie is rated PG-13), or is the film’s charm, like Griff, visible to some, invisible to others?
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