Posted: 12/20/2011

Centre Place

(2009)

by Jessica Machen

Centre Place, directed by Ben Shackleford, is an Australian romantic comedy with an emphasis on the comedy side of things. The romance is really lacking in the story.

Lizzie, the protagonist, is having a hard time with her life. Her boyfriend, whom she had plans to move to Paris with, dumps her, her brother unintentionally causes her apartment to burn down and she is working in a dreadful fashion store that barely sells a thing. She is an artist who thought she was living the life until it all came crashing down upon her. Not until then does she realize that she hasn’t been living, but just being.

Lizzie gets dumped by her boyfriend in the beginning of the film because he is bored with her. She becomes very depressed and the clothing store she works at embodies her emotions. Very dark and dull. Halfway through the story, an ex comes back into her life and falls for her all over again, quite suddenly, too. Things just seem to happen to Lizzie rather than her making things happen for herself. She really doesn’t make any choices to move forward in her life with the exception of when she takes initiative while her boss is out of office and leaves her in charge. She is very day and night, making it hard to believe she actually changes on the inside. Her epiphanies come about all too sudden.

Another area where the story lacks is that viewers never get a chance to get to know the male half of the story. There are numerous men in this film and because there are so many, viewers can’t learn enough about them all to care deeply enough for their story. There is the story between Lizzie and her brother, Lizzie and her boyfriend, Lizzie and her ex and Lizzie and her estranged father. The relationships seem to exist to push Lizzie forward rather than just existing helping her grow. The relationships seem very forced. For this film to have been amazing, picking one of those relationships and focusing on that would have made all the difference. Really, with all the relationships, it almost seems that it would make a better television series than a feature film.

All in all, this isn’t a great film, but it is entertaining and will put a smile or two on your face. Centre Place will be released on DVD on Valentine’s Day 2012.

Jessica Machen is a writer and filmmaker currently living in Chicago.

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