It's one of the best movies I have seen in a long time, about love, life and surviving it. It's an introspecting movie, with tons of laughter. I have always had a thing for accents, and 60% of me loved it because of the accent. the rest 60% is for the way the story was told. (Yeah, I know, it adds up to 120..but who wouldn't give it that much rating!). It's a perfect movie for a lazy Sunday with family, or any day when you don't feel like going on. this is a constant cheer, and it tells you what to do, to take control of your life. Now, don't mistake it for a spiritual kinda movie. It opens your eyes on the ways of the society and how to tackle everyday issues.

Not sure at first if I wanted to see an Australian movie due to the wretched nature of their soap operas and I had a bit of trouble getting into the first half hour. It has some odd plot bumps but they work overall and it's worth the wait for the various payoffs that crop up through out the story. Some great acting from all the cast. I had no idea the shark guy was Liev Schreiber and Anthony LaPaglia comes off very convincingly as the out of touch dad but it is the women and the girls that make this film and should be it's core fan base. However this is a "chick flick" that guys can actually enjoy too. I think it will be considered a minor classic some years hence. This really is a very very funny, clever film. You could do worse (Identity Thief) with bigger budget movies but this is one film I think will leave a lasting impression on the viewer and a real feather in the cap for the younger actors as their careers progress.

A dysfunctional family on the Gold Coast is set to implode, due to the father's constant philandering and the mother's inability to control her five daughters. The long suffering mother played with great sympathy by Rebecca Gibney, takes to singing songs from The Sound Of Music in her backyard which horrifies her straight laced neighbors. She is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, her husband doesn't even know who his daughters are, while they in turn imagine all sorts of symptoms of their own, to hide the one essential fact that they are unpopular because the community sees their mother as a bona fide nut case. He has his wife committed to an institution, but in a move that is typical of how this illness is regarded, her condition is covered up, by saying she has gone on holiday. This explanation was a common lie, and has been used for decades, it was the same lie told about my own mother many times over, who suffered a series of severe 'mental breakdowns' throughout her entire adult life. Into this domestic maelstrom strides an eccentric non–conformist (Colette) who we instantly know will set about restoring this family unit, by using unorthodox methods. Instead of getting them to conform in a military style take over, she takes the girls on a journey of self discovery, to embrace their eccentricities and discover their inner strengths. She speaks from her heart based on her own experiences which hint at dark secrets from her past. There are people who will criticize this film as dismissing a serious topic to get a few cheap laughs, and at times the film even resorts to crude slapstick. Nothing could be further from the truth. What this film stresses time and time again is the need for sympathy, empathy and a measure of acceptance when things are beyond our immediate understanding. Collette is outstanding as Shaz, who is part life coach, part manipulator, part politician and wholly anarchic. She is given solid support by newcomer Lily Sullivan who plays the oldest of the daughters, Coral. In many ways this film is a female rites of passage film about Coral, but it is much, much more than that. A little film that proves the old adage, that sometimes laughter is the best medicine, while at the same time providing plenty of food for thought on a serious issue.

Liev Schreiber plays a part that could almost be mistaken for a young Jack Thompson in a movie that Toni Collette makes all her own. The first 5 minutes of this movie will have you laughing. Australian comedy doesn't get any better than this. Deborah Mailman is brilliant as a friend of Shaz's and Rebecca Gibney was almost unrecognizable in a film that should win a heap of awards for the cast. A film that captures a very relevant topic in a way that makes you not just think, but laugh as well. I almost waited for Toni Collette to name herself as a "control mouse". Funny, sad and very Aussie, "Mental" is a film that is definitely going to be one for the collection.