Palm Beach

2019

1h 40m

Comedy

Drama

List

48%

29 Reviews

Tomatometer

31%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

A group of old friends reunites at Sydney's Palm Beach to celebrate a special birthday. However, the fun soon gives way to the messy realities of life.

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Premiered Mar 21

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Audience Member

Absolute stinker. Like an episode of Neighbours or Home and Away.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Stephen K

Overacted and badly directed, couldn't watch. This movie has some of the great actors of old and should have been funny and engaging, but it's really disappointing. Only managed to get through the first 15 minutes before we had to give up. I blame the director.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

04/23/21

Full Review

Audience Member

If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

wayne m

Palm Beach is a perfectly fine film but one that could never be described as essential. It's pleasant, sometimes funny but never meaty enough to truly connect. The film is set in the affluent northern Sydney suburb of Palm Beach. Frank is celebrating a birthday and he has invited the members of a band that he managed many years ago in The Pacific Sideburns, yes it's a horrible name. At first it's good times as old memories are hashed out and there is joy at friends being reunited. But over the few days old memories become bad memories as old wounds are reopened. There is also some regret among some few about how their lives have turned out. Even Frank, who made a fortune through a clothing line, has regret about growing old. It's a great cast with Sam Neill and Bryan Brown doing sterling work but it never truly works as the drama seems a bit inconsequential and the laughs feel a little forced. So for light entertainmtnet it works but doesn't really convince.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I hated this pile of drivel. I resented watching it. A display of white people living about as far away rom anyone that is racially diversive as they possibly can. When they arnt in their inner city mansions they are on the insular penisular or at their farms. Screaming of white privilege and toxic masculinity we watch the aging cast pretend they are a good ten years younger than the age of the characters they are playing and I am being very gracious when I say only ten years. How do they get funding to even make an indulgent elitist movie like this? What about the other 99.99% of Aussies out there doing it tough?

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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Rachel Ward

Director

Frances Berry

Caitlin

Bryan Brown

Frank

Matilda Brown

Ella

Richard E. Grant

Billy

Aaron Jeffery

Doug

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Never Too Late

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Wenlei Ma

News.com.au

Palm Beach is a movie that falls square in the "it's fine" category.

Rated: 3/5

Aug 15, 2019

Full Review

David Stratton

The Australian

The new Palm Beach is a world away from that likably rough and ready effort - it's a polished, visually lush and very likeable entertainment.

Rated: 3.5/5

Aug 9, 2019

Full Review

Sandra Hall

Sydney Morning Herald

A less likeable group of actors could easily have been upstaged by the conspicuous perfection of the setting and the décor. This bunch hold their own, but a sharper script would have made them shine even brighter.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jul 29, 2019

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

A Big Chill-type ensemble piece...

Feb 13, 2023

Full Review

Andrew F. Peirce

The Curb

Yes, it's a film that celebrates privilege, and yes, it's an exceptionally white film, but Palm Beach is a film that delivers for the market that is craving this kind of material.

Apr 4, 2020

Full Review

Anthony Morris

It's Better in the Dark

These are all well-off people with minor problems at best, and the film really doesn't pretend otherwise

Mar 12, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

A group of old friends reunites at Sydney's Palm Beach to celebrate a special birthday. However, the fun soon gives way to the messy realities of life.

Director: Rachel Ward
Screenwriter: Rachel Ward
Production Co: New Town Films Pty. Ltd.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English (Australia)
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 15, 2020
Runtime: 1h 40m

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