Film critic David Stratton reveals the classic Australian film he regrets giving one star: ‘I completely misunderstood it’

Famous Australian film critic David Stratton revealed that Australian film regrets giving a bad review.

The 85-year-old told the Sydney Morning Herald he “completely misunderstood” the classic 1997 film The Castle and only gave it one and a half stars.

“It was the first film made by a team that worked in television, and it seemed like a TV movie to me, even though I am very attached to the visual side of cinema,” he explained.

“I also found the humor a bit condescending.”

David admitted that he has since watched the film several times and found it very entertaining.

“But I obviously completely misunderstood it, because I’ve watched it several times since, and I now think it’s very funny,” he continued.

With co-host Margaret Pomeranz, Stratton was on air for 28 years, first as host of The Movie Show on SBS, then on the ABC with At The Movies.

Disagreements with ABC management led him and Pomeranz to leave the series in 2014.

Stratton continued to remain attentive to cinema, fittingly teaching a film history course at the University of Sydney.

The Castle, originally released in 1997, is a comedy about a blue-collar family fighting against developers.

Anne Tenney, Stephen Curry, Sophie Lee, Eric Bana and Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell starred alongside Michael Caton in the ultra-low budget film.

The film’s creators Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner and Jane Kennedy went on to make another comedy classic, The Dish, in 2000.

Despite its extremely low budget of only $750,000, The Castle was a financial success, grossing $10.3 million at the Australian box office.

Caton became a popular star in Australia after playing the lead role in The Castle – a Melbourne family man who fights to prevent his home from being acquired by the government as part of its plans to expand a nearby airport.

Since then, Caton has appeared in a host of high-profile Australian dramas, including Packed to the Rafters, Strange Bedfellows, The Animal and All Saints.

He also starred alongside Sam Neill in last year’s Rams and the Packed to the Rafters reboot, Back to the Rafters.

In 2021, Caton revealed that he was paid a pittance to play the role of Darryl Kerrigan in The Castle, pocketing just $3,000 for his time.

“Eleven days of filming, $3,000, but decades of career later. This is the real payment for the Castle,” Caton told ABC’s Australian Story.