Rob Sitch’s affectionate tale of blue-collar heroes battling forces of uncaring bureaucracy, The Castle is a classic of Oz comedy with a great big heart. The Kerrigan family live happily in a modest home right over the fence from Essendon Airport (“As the real estate agent said, location, location, location”), until their suburban bliss is upended by developers attempting the compulsory acquisition of their house- at an evaluation too low to buy another one. Realising all their neighbours are in the same boat, dad Darryl Kerrigan (Michael Caton) resolves to fight the power with the help of an incompetent vibes-based law-adjacent (Chartered Accountant) acquaintance, and with eviction looming they'll have to take the fight all the way to the Australian Supreme Court if they want to save their homes.

For an anti-authoritarian "battler" comedy featuring greyhound racing, rissoles and getting a bargain on used jousting sticks, The Castle lightly touches on surprisingly thorny questions of identity in a post-Mabo so-called Australia. This affectionate portrait of a weatherboard utopia touches on darker elements of the lower middle class reality, before shrugging it off with a gag (and a scene-stealing performance by a young Eric Bana) and a memorable line. Sitch and the Working Dog Productions team thread a very fine needle between humour and empathy, with an optimistic view of community and a fondness for the dag within us all.