The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee is a 2020 Australian comedy film directed by Dean Murphy, written by Robert Mond and Dean Murphy, and starring Paul Hogan, Rachael Carpani, Jacob Elordi, Charlotte Stent, Nate Torrence, Chevy Chase, John Cleese, Olivia Newton-John, Reginald VelJohnson, Shane Jacobson, Wayne Knight and Kerry Armstrong.

The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Dean Murphy
Written by	Robert Mond Dean Murphy
Produced by	Nigel Odell Dean Murphy
Starring	Paul Hogan Rachael Carpani Jacob Elordi Charlotte Stent Nate Torrence Chevy Chase John Cleese Olivia Newton-John Reginald VelJohnson Shane Jacobson Wayne Knight Kerry Armstrong
Cinematography	Roger Lanser
Edited by	Peter Carrodus Robert Mond
Music by	John Foreman
Production companies	Clock Sounds Productions Pty Kathy Morgan International Piccadilly Pictures Salt Media & Entertainment
Distributed by	Transmission Films
Release date	17 July 2020
Countries	Australia United States
Language	English

It was released on Amazon Prime Video on 17 July 2020,[1] and was the final film Olivia Newton-John starred in before her death in 2022.

Premise

Paul Hogan is reluctantly thrust back into the spotlight as he desperately attempts to restore his sullied reputation on the eve of being knighted.

Cast

• Paul Hogan as Paul
• Jacob Elordi as Chase, Paul's son
• Chevy Chase as Chevy
• John Cleese as John
• Olivia Newton-John as Olivia
• Reginald VelJohnson as Reggie
• Wayne Knight as Wayne
• Rachael Carpani as Angie
• Nate Torrence as Luke
• Paul Fenech as Paul's Mexican Landscaper
• Shane Jacobson as Neville Dundee
• Kerry Armstrong as Ella, Paul's date
• Charlotte Stent as Lucy
• Graham Tate as Graham
• Mark Ellis as Mark

Production

Filming took place in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia and Los Angeles, California, USA in 2018.[2]

Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released in Australian cinemas on 30 April 2020, but had its theatrical release cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee was released exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on 17 July 2020.

Reception

This new film has been summarized by Penelope DeBelle in Adelaide Now as "The latest in a long line of old man movies...Crocodile Dundee was 34 years ago, followed two years later by Crocodile Dundee II. Not even surgical uplifts and impeccable veneers can alter the fact that Hogan is now 80 years old. ...the idea of Hogan trying to revive the warmth and affection we had for his younger self seems a forlorn hope, just as casting a creaky Harrison Ford as a man living off the land seems an unnecessary stretch."[3]

The film has mostly negative reviews, with one and two-star reviews from ArtsHub,[4] Screenspace,[5] The Sydney Morning Herald[6] and The Guardian.[7] The Australian newspaper's Stephen Romei gave it one star, saying "The kindest comment I can make about Paul Hogan's new movie, The Very Excellent Mr Dundee, is that it includes John Cleese's worst performance ever (and, yes, I have seen Fierce Creatures from 1997)."[8]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 14% based on 21 reviews, and an average rating of 3.9/10.[9] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 24 out of 100, based on 4 critics.[10]

Accolades

References

External links

• The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee at IMDb