“If you play tennis with the devil, you can’t complain if he cheats.”

Justin’s rating: Now I see Peter Pan’s point of view — never grow up

Justin’s review: After the pleasant discovery of Aussie indie romcom Love and Other Consequences the other day, I immediately sought out director Emma-Kate Croghan’s only other film — one which so happens to be a spiritual successor of sorts with a chunk of the same cast and crew.

If Love and Other Consqeuences was a light-hearted slice-of-life of the ’90s Australian college scene, then 1999’s Strange Planet follows that up with a look at three newly graduated roommates navigating young adulthood over the course of a year.

Judy (Claudia Karvan) is an ambitious cynic who keeps pursuing married men, Alice (Naomi Watts in an early role!) lost her dream when she gave up on her college degree halfway through, and Sally (Alice Garner) is a dreamy goofball who lacks direction. Despite their differences in worldviews, the three have a good rapport that comes from knowing each other for a while now, and they’re each other’s greatest cheerleaders. Will they bump into and fall in love with the three law firm dudes this movie is also tracking? Probably. Maybe. Who knows? Oh, and can I say how bizarre it is to see Hugo Weaving in an Aussie romcom the same year that he had his breakout hit with The Matrix? It is so weird my friends.

In several ways, Strange Planet feels like it used Croghan’s first film as a template and simply scaled it up somewhat. It’s got the same fast-talking female Quentin Tarantino understudies, almost the exact same character types, and the same focus on love coming at you from an unexpected direction. (Although it is a little weird to see the Alice from the previous movie step aside for a new Alice and become the ditzy one instead.) The only real differences between the two are better production values and a switch to a year rather than a single day as a time frame. That, and being a little more prone to depression.

I thought it was really cool that we got to start with New Year’s Eve and then go through the year month by month to see how the girls and guys develop over this span. There’s also a sporadic use of cutaways to show past events and other locations in order to give us a better context for these people’s lives. It’s a little abrupt and perhaps immersion-breaking, but it kept me awake. Of course, if you’re really bored, you might see the month titles as a slow countdown to the end of the film. Or if you’re loving this, they might be a reminder of how little you have left with these people.

So which was it for me? It’s a hard call, to be honest. I don’t hate this movie, but I did feel that Strange Planet is a 90-minute tease that intentionally keeps these three guys and girls apart — while giving them numerous brushes with each other over the year — until the final scene. After a while, I grew antsy over trying to guess who the film was going to pair up with who and simply wanted it over and done with.

But if that tried my patience, getting to know these girls (not the generally dull guys) kept me interested. I like how we’re sold on their friendship and quirks first, and then gradually discover their backstories — why they make the decisions they do, what happened to them in the past, and how they came together as a roommate trio. And I will reluctantly admit that the messiness and imperfection of their lives is more relatable than your typical streamlined Hollywood characters.

In the end, I prefer Love and Other Consequences, even if that was rougher around the edges. Maybe it’s because that movie had more of an optimistic outlook and this one is a series of vignettes mostly about being Bummed Out and lonely. Strange Planet lost some of the edge and charm that Croghan had. It’s just too bad this is the end of the line for her career — maybe a third outing would’ve regained that spark I saw in her.

Intermission!

• Hope you like super-sped-up sequences, because you’re going to get a lot of them here
• Her new year resolutions
• “I thought this was an affair, not spiritual enlightenment.”
• Condoms make for weird balloons
• “I forgot… I can’t swim.”
• “How do I look?” “Very employable.”
• Alice sticking her tongue out at her rude boss behind her back
• “It’s totally ’80s. I’d rather drop prozac.”
• It’s disturbing to watch a guy eat watermelon and spit seeds while trying to deliver dialogue
• “Neil, why you reading Cosmo?”
• That’s a horribly loud ringtone
• Don’t try to kill yourself with multivitamins
• That’s a rather long dating aptitude test
• “Have you smelled her room lately?”
• Punching bags can give you black eyes
• The thespian origins of the girls’ friendship
• Fish with their heads still on served at a restaurant. Yum!
• “All you care about is being a frigid martyr.”
• “I’m a serial killer. They look like everyone else.”
• “Things never turn out the way you figure they will.”
• The dog running away in fast-motion