Cosi Reviews

Crazy people feel things more deeply than normal ones, you know -- we could all learn from them. Australian slacker Lewis (Ben Mendelsohn) takes a job staging amateur theatricals at a local mental institution. Against his better judgment, he allows twitchy inmate Roy (Barry Otto) to persuade him that they can put on a production of Cosi fan Tutti, which Roy casts with the obligatory eccentrics. Cherry (Jacki Weaver) is a middle-aged nymphomaniac, Ruth (Pamela Rabe) an introverted neat-freak, Julie (Toni Collette) a beautiful, moody young drug addict whose parents had her committed. Among the men: stuttering ex-lawyer Henry (Paul Chubb), belligerent arsonist Doug (Colin Hay) and Roy himself. A variety of little morality lessons play themselves out: Inspired by Mozart's story line and the insinuations of his duplicitous pal, pompous thespian Nick (Aden Young), Lewis begins to suspect his ambitious girlfriend Lucy (Rachel Griffiths) of infidelity and starts his own flirtation with Julie. Roy faces his fear of failure, Ruth opens up, Henry learns to stand up for himself, Julia confronts her dependence on the structure of institutional life and Lewis realizes that Lucy really loves him and he can't keep drifting through life. All's well that ends all, you might say. Adapted from a stage play, this slight, comic fable is about 20 minutes too long and too familiar by half, but it's amiable, breezy and occasionally quite charming.