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

01/01/2000

3/4

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.

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Susan Granger

www.susangranger.com

09/27/2007

3/5

Urban Cinefile Critics

Urban Cinefile

08/11/2007

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.

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

09/29/2005

2/5

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

01/01/2000

C+

This is a minor comedy, in the style of Ealing films from the 1950s, of the little man against the bureaucrats.

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Bradley H

Jun 27

A slight comedy in the Ealing tradition. A tale of manufacturing past its heyday. A little too quirky in parts. Interesting early career movie of quite a few notable Australian actors - Russel Crowe, Ben mendelson, Toni Colette.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 May 26

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

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Jelisije J

10/13/2024

An underrated heart warming film.

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Charlie R

12/09/2023

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.

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ashley h

@ashleyhobgood87 03/28/2014

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.

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02/21/2014

"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.

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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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