let's say you live at the end of an airport runway . 
large jetliners continuously pass over your house , rattling your windows and allowing few moments of peace . 
let's say the ground beneath your feet is also contaminated with toxic substances , and high voltage power lines run across steel towers only yards from your home . 
now let's say an airport conglomerate wants to buy your property in order to lengthen the runway , and offers you more than it's worth . 
wouldn't you jump in the air and have your bags packed before you landed ? 
of course you would . 
but what if this bit of land was your idea of paradise , and the house your castle ? 
that's what they are to darryl kerrigan ( michael caton ) , and although he's happy that a multi-national corporation would like to buy his home , sorry , it's not for sale . 
unfortunately , the corporation wields quite a bit of influence over the australian government , which serves darryl and his family with what amounts to an eviction notice . 
not about to take this lying down , darryl enlists the help of his inept attorney friend dennis denuto ( tiriel mora ) and makes a determined , albeit pathetic , attempt to fight back . 
the castle , an australian comedy by rob sitch , is perhaps one of the simplest movies i've seen in recent memory , yet also one of the funniest . 
in fact , it is this film's reliance on simplicity which makes it so successful . 
the good guys and the bad guys are clear , the humor is straightforward , and the storyline is as uncomplicated as it gets . 
it's the perfect setup for a relaxing , hilarious good time , and as much as i hate to admit it , i liked the fact that i didn't have to think all that much while watching this film . 
i just sat back and enjoyed myself . 
the situation is one we've seen before : regular joe fights back against the government , or big business , or whatever . 
what makes this film different is its characters . 
darryl thinks he's got the best life in the world - he tells his family that living next to power lines is a constant reminder of the success of mankind , he asks who would ever want to go out and eat in a fancy restaurant when he's got the meat loaf feast prepared by his wife sal ( anne tenny ) , and he swells with pride when his son dale ( stephen curry ) digs a hole in the yard . 
steve kerrigan ( anthony simcoe ) constantly combs the buy and sell ads looking for " investments " like jousting sticks and overhead projectors , while wayne kerrigan is in jail , as a result of dennis denuto's incompetent courtroom maneuvers . 
the great thing about the kerrigans is that they aren't so stupid that they get annoying . 
they're just a group of simpletons whose naive nature is perfectly harmless and even endearing . 
we look upon them with a little bit of pity , but a whole lot of affection . 
screenwriters sitch , santo cilauro , tom gleisner , and jane kennedy pit this lovable bunch of unlikely crusaders against a stoic court system and a condescending business conglomerate , further polarizing the extremes and deepening our feelings for the kerrigans . 
sympathy for their situation , the laughter they bring us , and the family's wonderful characterization , simple as it may be , leaves us with a degree of emotional investment that causes us to actually care about what happens to them . 
i suppose one might wonder how deep characterization can go when your characters are as inane as the kerrigans , but trust me , it works . 
i particularly noted that the writers did not have to use slapstick in order to get laughs . 
don't get me wrong - slapstick , when executed well , can be genius . 
it's just that too often , a film will resort to it's use as a shortcut to amusing the audience , not always successfully . 
instead , the jokes in the castle are all hinged upon the dialog uttered by these people who have no idea that they are totally skewed to the rest of the world . 
when they are by themselves , the are funny , and when they are with normal people , they are hilarious . 
one of the few problems i saw with this film was a detour taken about midway though . 
the kerrigans go out to a vacation spot for seemingly no reason other than to pack in a few more jokes and increase the film's running time . 
luckily , it's a funny little detour that , while slightly distracting from the film's main drive , is still quite enjoyable . 
with all the levity abound in the castle , the film still manages to take on a pretty heavy concept , that of the innate right of a citizen to keep his property , an issue which has been bandied about in courts across the civilized world with differing outcomes . 
i'm not certain the courtroom monologue near the end of the film would actually hold up in real life , but it brings to the forefront the essence of the constitution ( of australia ) and certainly sounds impressive at any rate . 
and , for that matter , it's more than i would have expected out of a light hearted film like this . 
