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The Efficiency Expert

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The Efficiency Expert

PG

1991

1h 29m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

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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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

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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

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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

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Sep 29, 2005

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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

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Stephen C

**** this movie, I'm getting out of here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/26/25

Full Review

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

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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

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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

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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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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: The Australian Film Commission, Film Victoria, Australian Film Finance Corporation, Meridian Films, Smiley Productions
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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