Ruben Guthrie

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Ruben Guthrie

2015

1h 33m

Drama

Romance

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

60%

Tomatometer

10 Reviews

42%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

Life is good for Ruben Guthrie. He works as advertisement executive, leads a lavish, party boy lifestyle and has a model fiancée, but after a drunken mistake leaves his life in ruins, he is forced to face his problem with the bottle.

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Luke Buckmaster

Guardian

An initially archetypal trajectory (boy loses girl; boy goes on mission to get her back) becomes something curlier and less conventional, with lashings of abrasive dialogue that recall its stage origins

Jul 25, 2015

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Jake Wilson

Sydney Morning Herald

As a writer and actor, Cowell is obviously talented if erratic; as a filmmaker he has a long way to go.

Rated: 2.5/5

Jul 16, 2015

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Nick Dent

Time Out Sydney

It's all a bit low stakes,

Rated: 3/5

Sep 27, 2017

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David 'Mad Dog' Bradley

Rip It Up

Cowell makes his feature film dbut as writer/director/producer, bringing it to the screen with Patrick Brammall in terrific, tormented form as our titular 'hero'.

Rated: 3.5/5

Jan 1, 2016

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Mel Campbell

Junkee

Perhaps Ruben Guthrie makes more sense if you watch it while drunk. Being sober, I loathed it.

Aug 14, 2015

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Jim Schembri

3AW

It might be a case of something essential getting lost in the translation, but first-time director Brendan Cowell's adaptation of his play about an alcoholic advertising man on the road to redemption is a well-intentioned mess.

Rated: 1/5

Jul 24, 2015

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Audience Member

Watch it. It'll surprise you

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/14/23

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lenny r

Interesting story about the trials of an alcoholic in a culture that makes it hard to escape alcohol. The mix of comedy and drama gets a bit awkward at times, but Brammall brings weight to the lighter moments and lightness to the heavy ones. Nevin, Thompson, Lee, Sims and Dyer lend good support. Demitriades overdoes it a bit. Makes Sydney look amazing, while showing how awful it has the potential to be.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

Rather cliched, but unfunny.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

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Audience Member

Brilliant movie, Brendan Cowall has done a wonderful job in writing directing and starring in this great depiction of Australia and their attitude towards alcohol

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/24/23

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Audience Member

Wonderful expose of the struggle with alcohol. Highly recommended for mature audience.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

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Audience Member

Life is good for ad man Ruben Guthrie (Patrick Brammall) - he leads a party boy lifestyle, has a model fiancée and lives in a house on the water. But he is an alcoholic and so his fiancée Zoya (Abbey Lee) leaves him with instruction that if he can be sober for a year, she'll give him another chance. Despite his hedonistic lifestyle it is easy to sympathise with Ruben given how his progress is hampered by friends, colleagues and even his family. And in this, the comedy makes some important comments on mateship and male interaction, as well as Australia's drinking culture, without being overly preachy. As both first film and stage adaptation, this work from Brendan Cowell, stands up, thanks to its backing from Destination NSW (the waterside Sydney shots are glorious). Alex Dimitriades is a real highlight, as Ruben's hard-living gay friend from uni days.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Brendan Cowell

Director

Patrick Brammall

Ruben Guthrie

Alex Dimitriades

Damian

Abbey Lee

Zoya

Brenton Thwaites

Chet

Jack Thompson

Peter

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Synopsis

Life is good for Ruben Guthrie. He works as advertisement executive, leads a lavish, party boy lifestyle and has a model fiancée, but after a drunken mistake leaves his life in ruins, he is forced to face his problem with the bottle.

Director: Brendan Cowell
Producer: Kath Shelper
Screenwriter: Brendan Cowell
Genre: Drama, Romance
Original Language: Australian English
Release Date (Streaming): May 5, 2020
Runtime: 1h 33m

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