The Efficiency Expert

PG

1991

1 hr. 29 min.

Comedy

List

67%

6 Reviews

Tomatometer

50%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

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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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

kevin w

Anthony Hopkins is the titular character, hired to straighten the kinks in an industrial town mainstay going under down under. At the same time his own marriage is going south as well. Can he turn the shoe factory around, save the jobs of the curiously eccentric locals who depend on the economy the plant provides and keep his self-esteem intact? And what about those locals, eh, what breed of animal are they? The answers to these questions are what make this particular clock tick and its in viewing the working of it that pleasure is gained. Toni Collette, Russell Crowe and Ben Mendelsohn, name stars now, all contribute freshman efforts here, which is one reason to see this, but the overall redemptive tone of the work is satisfactory all on its own.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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

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Mark Joffe

Director

Anthony Hopkins

Errol Wallace

Ben Mendelsohn

Carey

Alwyn Kurts

Mr. Ball

Bruno Lawrence

Robert

John Walton

Jerry Finn

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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

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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

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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
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: English (Australia)
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 4, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $52.8K
Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

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