The Greatest Beer Run Ever (12A)
Directed by Peter Farrelly
★★

FROM the director of the Oscar-winning Green Book comes the unbelievable true story of how in 1967 a man left New York to bring beer to his childhood buddies fighting in Vietnam as a thank you and a gesture of support from the neighbourhood.

Co-written and directed by Peter Farrelly, it is based on the book by John “Chick” Donohue and J T Malloy and stars Zac Efron as Chickie, a true patriot and clearly a crazy person, who, armed with a duffel bag full of beer cans, got a job as a boiler man on a ship heading for Saigon to track down his mates.

Once there, mistaken for a CIA agent, he managed to con his way onto military transport to find his friends.

Efron has the charisma and simpatico demeanour to pull off this character with conviction as you root for him to succeed and survive in this hair-brained plan. The problem lies in that the film does not get the tone quite right — hilarious one moment; deadly serious the next.

It is also rife with cliches and jingoism. Chickie fervently believes that the troops are defending the United States in the Vietnam war and is furious over the anti-war protests and demonstrators — including his sister — as well as the negative news coverage on TV.

But it only takes his befriending a jaded war photographer (Russell Crowe) to open his eyes to the reality and futility of this conflict.

It is an extraordinary tale which deserved better exposition.

MD
In cinemas and on Apple TV+

Girls Girls Girls (15)
Directed by Alli Haapasalo
★★★★

THE whirlwind of teenage emotions is captured in a candid and frank way in this coming-of-age tale about three Finnish girls.

Unfolding over three consecutive Fridays, the film follows Mimmi (Aamu Milonoff), who has anger and abandonment issues, and her blossoming romantic relationship with workaholic figure skater Emma (Linnea Leino) — who does most of the skating just not the jumps — and Mimmi’s best friend Ronkko (Eleonoora Kauhanen), who loves having sex but can’t engage emotionally during the actual act.

Directed by Alli Haapasalo from a beautifully and sensitively written script by Illona Ahti and Daniela Hakulinen, the drama realistically portrays the angst and sexual awakening of girls today.

It is anchored by stunning performances from its three fearless female leads as they bare all (certainly emotionally) in some very intimate scenes.

Very awkward at times while touching and heartbreaking at others, it is a captivating and romantic drama about the minefield that is teenage life.

MD
In cinemas

Love Around the World (12A)
Directed by Andela Rostuhar and Davor Rostuhar
★★★

WHAT is love? A question we have all probably asked ourselves at some point, but in the case of photographer Davor Rostuhar and his wife Andela, they turned their honeymoon into a year-long quest to find out the answer, resulting in this fascinating and insightful debut documentary.

They visited 30 countries across six continents and carried out 120 interviews with people from different walks of life, cultures, religious faiths and classes — asking them the same questions about love and their relationships.

Their answers are quite revelatory and surprising as the film also shows the effect that religion, politics and culture had on their liaisons. It focuses on 33 stories which depict all manner of couplings: heterosexual, lesbian, polygamous, threesomes as well as arranged marriages.

Relationships are complicated, as an Indian woman who married two brothers and a woman from Kyrgyzstan who was kidnapped by her would-be husband and wed against her will (but says she’s happy) now show.

So, is love universal? As the Rostuhars’ compelling documentary depicts, it is complex and comes in many forms and guises.

MD
In cinemas

Flux Gourmet (15)
Directed by Peter Strickland
★★

WRITER-DIRECTOR Peter Strickland serves up another surreal concoction in this unsavoury tale about a group of experimental performance artists who attend a remote institute for culinary and alimentary performance.

Known for their “sonic catering” — extracting disturbing sounds from various foods — the three members (played by Fatma Mohamed, Asa Butterfield and Ariane Labed) are soon embroiled in their own power struggles and artistic vendettas during their three-day workshop.

The film is narrated by Stones (Makis Papadimitrious), who documents their activities while being plagued by endless flatulence — a running gag which very quickly runs out of steam (or wind, as the case may be).

While visually arresting (though an assault on the ears) it is a pretentious film full of odious characters and gag-inducing set sequences which may appeal to Strickland fans.

It is definitely an acquired taste.

MD
In cinemas and on Curzon Home Cinema