'THE SAPPHIRES'

'THE SAPPHIRES' (PG-13) (3 STARS)

Written by Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson
Directed by Wayne Blair
Actors: Chris O'Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbins, Miranda Tapsell.

I have been bitching lately about the movies that have been coming out the past few months. I am tired of the mediocrity and movies that just seem to be the same old, ordinary field of sameness. I am not asking for something earth shaking all the time, I would actually just like a movie that is fresh even if it is full of cliches. "The Sapphires" has answered my complaints with a movie that is cliched but at least is alive and different in some ways. I am not asking for the sun, moon and the earth here. I just want to have fun and be entertained and this was the first time I had fun in months and months at the movies.

"The Sapphires" is that cliched story of a group of men or women who can really sing and who get recruited by a manager to tour in some desired location. There is the usual scramble for who will be the lead singer and the back up singer who gets discovered and picked to be the lead because she has the better voice. There will be the usual fights and threats to break up with all the petty rivalries and jealousies. You might think you have seen this story before but I bet you haven't seen it set in the 60's with a group of Aborigine women touring Vietnam with a booze soaked Australian manager. This is why "The Sapphires" is a fresh take on this story in a different location with different type of women.

There are other reasons too why this worked on me and it is the usual and dependable qualities of great performances, a great soundtrack and just a fun delivery. Chris O'Dowd was already a star to me playing the sweet cop who falls in love with Kristen Wiig in "Bridesmaids". His performance there and character was one of the reasons that movie catapaulted to the top as my best movie of 2011. He was charming there and funny as he is in "The Sapphires" which is a movie that should become a crowd pleasing, word of mouth hit. He completely owns the screen as Dave who manages a foursome of Aborigine women, sisters and cousins in one family. Dave runs a talent show and accompanies the women in a country song playing the piano. He likes what he hears and convinces the girls to stop singing country and start singing Soul music. O'Dowd is amazing here in a captivating, charming, funny and yes cool and sexy performance.

The group of women are all cute in their own way and one of the singers, Gail, will fall in love with Dave. I didn't mind that love story that we can see coming because the actress who plays Gail, Deborah Mailman, gives such a subtly powerhouse performance. She is really strong here and the chemistry with O'Dowd strangely works. You also have a different type of location work here with the movie being filmed in Vietnam and taking place right when the war is starting. There is also a killer soundtrack of great R & B and Soul music and the girls all sound fantastic especially the lead singer Julie played well by Jessica Mauboy.

"The Sapphires" goes by fast, is fun and will having you tapping your toes and enjoying a wonderful soundtrack of great songs, some you have never heard in this type of movie. Deborah Mailman is a revelation and Chris O'Dowd, who you will see a lot of soon, gives a star making performance and he absolutely should become a star. He has screen presence, coolness, charm, an off beat sexy quality and he is funny and never wavers in his natural charm. This is a very fun movie and I liked it a lot while it also reminded me of another sleeper hit movie that resembles this, "The Commitments". I love that movie a lot more becuase it was the most fun I have had at a movie in my life but "The Sapphires" would be a great fit with Alan Parker's classic in a toe tapping, killer double feature.