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The Efficiency Expert

Play trailer Poster for The Efficiency Expert PG 1991 1h 29m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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67% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 50% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Straitlaced Errol Wallace (Anthony Hopkins) is tasked with traveling to the small Australian town of Spotswood to help the befuddled Mr. Ball (Alwyn Kurts) and his ramshackle moccasin company make their products in a more efficient manner. Although the employees of the factory are decidedly quirky both in personality and production methodology, Wallace's fondness for their eccentricities inspires him to search for a way to increase productivity without leaving any of the workers unemployed.
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The Efficiency Expert

Critics Reviews

View All (6) Critics Reviews
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times It's interesting, the way Hopkins' face relaxes as the movie continues and his character learns, perhaps for the first time, that time and motion studies are about people, not facts. Rated: 3/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Pamela Bruce Austin Chronicle Rated: 3/5 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Susan Granger www.susangranger.com Rated: 3/5 Sep 27, 2007 Full Review Urban Cinefile Critics Urban Cinefile The eccentricities of the characters and the nostalgia emanating from the wonderfully evocative production design by Chris Kennedy all add up to a charming film of considerable entertainment value. It is a minor classic of Australian cinema. Aug 11, 2007 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Sep 29, 2005 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews This is a minor comedy, in the style of Ealing films from the 1950s, of the little man against the bureaucrats. Rated: C+ Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jelisije J An underrated heart warming film. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/13/24 Full Review Charlie R A quiet movie with a very understated performance from Anthony Hopkins. No guns, no CG, just a nicely written story about loyalty and community and possibly even success in a quirky, small moccasin factory. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/09/23 Full Review ashley h The Efficiency Expert is a decent film. It is about an expert on productivity shows wacky workers in 1966 Australia how to run their moccasin factory like clockwork. Anthony Hopkins and Ben Mendelsohn give good performances. The script is a little slow in places. Mark Joffe did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the drama. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member "An everyday story about loyalty, betrayal, lust and footwear." The Efficiency Expert is an extremely lame movie on most levels. It has a few things going for it, like Anthony Hopkins who is really good and Russell Crowe in a very early and small role. It's easy to see why I had never heard of this film before. It's pretty unlikable. The characters outside of Hopkins' are terrible, the story is a mess, and it's all rather dull, weird and for long periods, extremely boring. The only thing that keeps it going is Hopkins. Errol Wallace is an efficiency expert who goes into businesses that are failing and figures out what they need to do to start making money again. Most the time, that means downsizing. The main story is Wallace going to a Moccasin factory, where the owner is very loyal to his employees. Then there's little love stories going on and a side story with Wallace and his partner getting backlash for firings at another factory. The Efficiency Expert isn't worth the short hour and twenty nine minute runtime, unless you're like me and just want to see everything Anthony Hopkins has ever done. If you're not a completist, then this is definitely one to skip.  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Frances H Nice Aussie flick. Dennis Schwartz criticized it for being like the Ealing Studio Brit flicks of the 40s and 50s, but in my opinion that's a compliment. Like this movie, they were quiet, warm little pics about human values--goodness, helping your fellow man and the humor in living--feel good movies that were truly entertaining, and that's what films are supposed to do for us. Seeing very young stars Russell Crowe and Toni Collette was icing on the cake. And Anthony Hopkins is always worth seeing. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 04/02/13 Full Review Audience Member Perhaps I am overrating this by a wee bit, but I was immediately won over by the movie's labour-conscious plot and, of course, Mr Hopkins, delivering yet another delightfully-subdued performance. One of the greatest complaints any movie can have is that it isn't long enough--I wanted to see so much more, even if the story is tied up quite nicely in a bow. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Efficiency Expert

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Straitlaced Errol Wallace (Anthony Hopkins) is tasked with traveling to the small Australian town of Spotswood to help the befuddled Mr. Ball (Alwyn Kurts) and his ramshackle moccasin company make their products in a more efficient manner. Although the employees of the factory are decidedly quirky both in personality and production methodology, Wallace's fondness for their eccentricities inspires him to search for a way to increase productivity without leaving any of the workers unemployed.
Director
Mark Joffe
Producer
Richard Brennan, Timothy White
Screenwriter
Max Dann
Production Co
Smiley Productions, Australian Film Finance Corporation, Meridian Films, Film Victoria, The Australian Film Commission
Rating
PG
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
Australian English
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 4, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$52.8K
Runtime
1h 29m
Sound Mix
Surround, Stereo
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