Charlie & Boots (M) ** 1/2

Paul Hogan, Shane Jacobson

Directed by Dean Murphy

After watching the father and son road movie Charlie & Boots I was perplexed.

Did director Dean Murphy make the first hour painfully slow on purpose, to reflect the uncomfortable silences between estranged father and son, or was it the result of poor script editing? I'm inclined to think the latter because for almost the entire first hour of the film, nothing much happens.

OK that's a slight exaggeration - Charlie's wife, Grace, dies suddenly and each day he wakes up to face a fridge full of casseroles delivered by well-intentioned friends and neighbours.

Soon, Charlie (Paul Hogan) is facing a sink full of dishes and spending his days in a darkened room watching TV.

Boots (Shane Jacobson), the son who no longer lives on or helps run the family dairy farm, arrives one day and realising his dad is in a bad way, he does the only thing he can think of - he takes Charlie on a fishing trip to Cape York.

Charlie is bundled into the car but is not enthused, trying to abscond on more than one occasion (maybe Boots should have let him pack a bag). Boots tries to strike up a conversation but his tourist trivia banter only serves to make Charlie even less talkative.

Their awkward relationship takes a small step forward with the somewhat contrived arrival of hitchhiker Jess (Morgan Griffin).

A pretty teen with dreams of becoming a country music star, Jess is soon questioning both men about their relationships and family life. Along the way they meet an assortment of characters played by actors from some of Australia's best-loved TV shows - Di Smith from A Country Practice, Val Lehman from Prisoner, as well as Anne Phelan adding some humour as an amorous truckie. Even the ubiquitous Roy Billing makes an appearance near the end.

With the combined comedy pedigree of Hogan and Jacobson one might reasonably expect the jokes to flow thick and fast and to some extent they do, although the style of humour raised few laughs at a media screening.

Despite looking nothing like father and son, Hogan and Jacobson do have chemistry, especially in prank scenes where there seems to be a genuine delight at their mischief-making. They also share an everyman appeal and knockabout charm.

The scenery on the trip from country Victoria to Cape York in Queensland is spectacular but charm and postcard views don't compensate for the film's lack of tension and drama. It's not until the trusty old Kingswood breaks down that Charlie and Boots actually engage on an emotional level and are forced to face the tragic event from Boots' past that proves he too knows a thing or two about suffering. And no, the worst thing that happened to Boots was not Grace naming him after a singer, resulting in Charlie nicknaming him after footwear.

In the end, Charlie & Boots is an innocuous way to pass time, with about as much impact as a Sunday drive.