This movie only manages to keep viewers vague interest. It also is unconvincing in its plotting and characterisations. Teresa Palmer is given a plain boring role but still manages to give it a good shot, where as Joel Edgerton is pretty week, trying to be mysterious but giving us little reason to care what he's hiding. The movie is well shot and has solid faming and colour but also comes off like a Bali tourism advert at times. The central mystery just isn't that compelling and whatever tension is there throughout the story quickly deflates rather than explodes like it should. It just simply isn't worth an hour and a half of your time.

I got through the movie, the acting was not horrible, but I absolutely hate when the movie keeps bouncing from past to present. Drives me nuts and I have to think the director thinks they are creative, I just think they are lazy and can't tell a decent story. That being said, all actors were believable, and the story did its job. This really shouldn't be necessary to say, but if you go somewhere new, it is not a good idea to get so blitzed out that you lose your sense of well being. Stay safe! Everyone wants to have fun, and Cambodia I have no doubt is beautiful and offers a lot of entertainment. I think anyone who watches anything on Asian cultures knows they delve into areas that are distasteful. It is not a place I would care to visit but if I did, I wouldn't be stupid about it.

I know I'm a bit biased when it comes to the savants behind the Aquarius Films and Blue-Tongue Films collective but I can't help it: these guys are just too damn good!Wish You Were Here is an emotional roller-coaster that explores the varying reactions of human beings when they are faced with turmoil. Felicity Price (co-writer with husband Kieran Darcy- Smith) plays Alice, a pregnant, formidable mother who discovers after returning from holiday in Cambodia that her husband, Dave(Joel Edgerton) had an affair whilst on the trip. It is the who rather than the how that causes the most drama as the "other woman" was Alice's younger, crazier sister Stef(Teresa Palmer). This love-triangle drama is framed by the wittingly suspenseful disappearance of Stef's new boyfriend, Jeremy(Antony Starr), who vanishes during their final days in Cambodia seemingly without a trace.Darcy-Smith (DS) and the crew behind WYWH play the audience brilliantly: from their calculating publicity strategy to play up the disappearance of Jeremy over the main drama revolving around Dave and Alice's strained relationship; to the eventual unfolding of the film's overall story which happens as if pages of a book had been torn from the spine and fluttered on the ground, only for the reader to read them in whatever order he found them. It is a brilliant way to tell films that turns the traditional circular narrative completely on its head. DS and Felicity Price have a delightful way of writing which encourages the audience to view the narrative from all points of view. When you believe you have sided with one character, something happens next to completely change your allegiance and before you know it, you're rooting for the other side.The cast of this film is also well selected however, I believe some characters (and their corresponding actors) were downplayed a little too much for instance, the character of Stef and our lack of ability to experience her pain and grief and the loss of her new love. Of course, this is all done within reason which the viewer discovers towards the end of the film when we find out that Jeremy and Stef were only new flames, not old embers like Alice and Dave which, whilst it sounds cruel to say, doesn't encourage the audience to feel as sympathetic for their romance being cut short considering it only lasted 6 weeks. Still, Teresa and Antony both give it their all despite their limited screen time which only adds to Joel Edgerton and Felicity Price's performances who play their characters effectively and with a great sense of knowledge about the inner workings of their characters' minds. Its very difficult to watch actors who are inwardly judging their own roles but there is none of that from these two leads. This may come down to Felicity's affiliation with the story from the writing stage but at lot more can be attributed to her as a great actress, as it can with Joel and his capabilities.

Don't be put off by the opening of this movie, which shows four privileged thirty-somethings indulging themselves on a SE Asian holiday; followed by more self-conscious family life in pretty Sydney surroundings. Then it appears not all is well. One of the four, a businessman, has gone missing, and other things which happened on the holiday begin to be revealed. Excellent performances from Teresa Palmer and Joel Edgerton, and a skillful withholding of information, keep this mystery/emotional drama ticking over. The prettiness of the photography is a nice irony, contrasting with the increasingly murky revelations. There's a slight over-indulgence in arty camera angles when you'd like to get closer to the characters and their feelings; the performances by the missing man's parents are unconvincing, and the the lead female performance is often curiously detached. Nevertheless this is one of those stories which slowly grows stronger; its twists are credible and powerful. Good work!