Where's Wally?

The Honourable Wally Norman: Every underdog has his day- a new Australian film

Wally Norman goes to work one day to find his job fenced off by barbed wire, barking dogs and hooded goons.

Sound familiar?

What's more, in the leafy and lofty halls that house the local MP, company directors are conspiring to abscond with the workers' entitlements. A hefty bribe gets the conservative pollie on side.

This does not sound like the stuff of comedy. But in true Australian tradition the film-makers decide that these days people can only stomach politics if its satirised and cynical.

The plot thickens. An election is brewing and Wally's home town becomes a key seat. Wally unwittingly is nominated when Willy Norman, the candidate for the other side misspells his name while slumped over his desk in a drunken stupor.

Wally is talked into running and introduced into the machinations of party politics by his dodgy mentor. He stumbles and fumbles until he all but wins the election for the other party. But just when things look as bad as they can get he comes good, wins the seat, saves his mates' entitlements from the crooked bosses and gets the meatworks going again.

Inspired by the Patrick lockout, the meatworkers dispute, a spate of lost entitlements and a healthy distrust of politicians, former left-wing lawyers turned scriptwriters Andrew Jones and Rick Kalowski made worker Wally the hero in this their first film, now showing at Hoyts nationwide.

In September MUA members attended a special union only screening at Fox Studio. The theatre was packed and more than a few belly laughs were heard throughout the show.

Directed by the makers Kath and Kim, the Dish and the Castle, the script is rich with puns and pokes -- some say a bit rich.

But the Honourable Wally Norman is well worth seeing and got the thumbs up from a contingent of maritime and mining workers and officials on the night.