This Aussie crime caper starts promisingly. It introduces an offbeat cast of villains, a clinically-executed heist and a foul smell of duplicity emanating from our heroes' slick lawyer, Frank, aka the world's shiftiest man. So far so 'Lock-Stock', but the film fails to live up to these early expectations.

All apparent intricacies within the plot are then swiftly abandoned. Frank, it transpires, is a very bad man indeed, just as our hero-criminals are rather good-humoured, decent sorts. And so our three goodies (Dale, Shane and Mal) go off to work for baddie Frank, knowing full well that he's a baddie and don't seem too astonished when Frank rips them off, stealing their $10 million and Dale's wife. Eventually everyone gets fed up with Frank, and in a truly bizarre final scene, they turn him into a sausage.

The underlying flaw in the film is that it fails to explore the characters or situations in a new or interesting way. Furthermore, there is no suspense after the first hour - the tension seems to decrease as the film progresses. And although the brothers interact very entertainingly, we learn next to nothing about their lives together, making it hard to empathise with them, or to feel that they even deserve their final happy end.

Tough and profane, THE HARD WORD is a nasty little gem filmed in Australia during the criminal caper comedy run of production themes from 1999-2003. Like DIRTY DEEDS the same year, it was harshly judged and slid at the box office, but on a big screen it was quite enjoyable in its deliberately mean way. With an excellent cast including Guy Pearce and Rachel Griffiths, it also features a hugely silly putty nose stuck on Pearce's face. God knows why. Also in the cast are two of Australia's best character actors... the gorgeous Rhondda Findleton (see her also in LOVE IN LIMBO) and the adorable hilarious Torquil Neilson (from the equally maligned farce LET'S GET SKASE). Both these support actors would be big stars if on TV overseas but they just never get big release parts here in Australia... bit like the superb he man Jack Campbell from THE NOSTRDAMUS KID and charming Nicolas Beaumont. THE GUARDIAN star from TV Simon Baker ( of L.A. Confidential)seems to have taken all the roles for these guys in one career. THE HARD WORD is a wannabee heist caper with some nasty behavior. Sam Genocchio's 2004 micro budget crime calamity GET RICH QUICK also attempted the same Aussie genre with genuinely disgusting and hilarious results. Wait until you see how Rachel Griffiths greets Guy Pearce peering at her from behind the glass prison visiting room window in THE HARD WORD.... I hope she wasn't sitting next to her Mum at the premiere for that scene to unfold. Rachel! what a thing to agree to be photographed doing with that smile on your face! John Waters would have been thrilled.