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''[[The Castle]]'' is a 1997 Australian film focusing on an ordinary family of "Aussie battlers" who live next door to an international airport. Their life is turned upside-down when the government tries to force them out of their house, but the family stands their ground and fights it both in and out of the courts.
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* '''Wayne Kerrigan''' (Wayne Hope): [[The Quiet One]] who is serving a prison term for armed robbery. The only downer in the Kerrigans' otherwise idyllic life.
* '''Steve Kerrigan''' (Anthony Simcoe): The older brother whose main pastime is reading the ''Trading Post'' (a popular classified ads paper) for good deals on useful junk. Evidently inherited the DIY gene from his dad, because he has a knack for inventing things around the home. [[Running Gag|He's an ideas man.]]
* '''Dale Kerrigan''' (Stephen Curry): the Narrator of the story, prone to [[Department of Redundancy Department|redundantly]] [[Captain Obvious|narrating the obvious]] [[Shaped Like Itself|in his narration]]. Likes [[Makes Just
* '''Tracey Kerrigan''' (Sophie Lee): [[Daddy's Girl]], a certified hairdresser. Once featured as a contestant on the Australian version of [[The Price Is Right]].
* '''Con Petropelous''' (Eric Bana): an accountant, and a fanatical kickboxer who is newly married to Tracey. This was Eric Bana's first cinematic role, and even here he was kicking arse!
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Just when all seems to be lost, Darryl strikes up a chat with Lawrence Hammill (played by the venerable late actor Charles "Bud" Tingwell), who happens to be an retired Queen's Counsel experienced in the area of Constitutional law. Lawrence offers to help Darryl take his case all the way to the highest court in Australia...and the rest is history.
Not to be confused with American murder-mystery series ''[[Castle]]'', or the novel ''The Castle'' by [[
{{tropelist}}
* [[Amoral Attorney]]: there are a few that pop up as the defence counsel. A particularly intimidating one comes around to Dennis's office and tries to get him to persuade Darryl to settle the case.
* [[
* [[Berserk Button]]: In one of the court scenes, the opposing lawyer refers to the Kerrigans' home as a 'dwelling' in a tone of voice that makes it clear that he's using the most courtroom-acceptable term he can think of for it. Darryl hotly rebuts that if there were more homes like his- and the opposing lawyer cuts him off and says that if there were, the jails would be full of people like his son. Darryl goes berserk and the judge tells the opposing lawyer to stop being a dick.
* [[Book Ends]]: "My name is Dale Kerrigan, and this is my story..."
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* [[Fifteen Minutes of Fame]]: "Mum reckons its funny how one day you're not famous, and then the next day you are. Famous. And then you're not again."
* [[Funny Foreigner]]: Farouk, Darryl's very Arab neighbour.
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"You have friend, I have friend. My friend go to your house, put bomb under your car and blow you to fucking sky!" }}
* [[Happily Ever After]]
* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: Tony Martin (host of [[Get This]]) appears in a split-second cameo as Bud Tingwell's son. Along with Martin, many of the cast have been involved in projects by the film's production company, [
* [[
* [[Land Down Under]]: of course, but ''The Castle'' is probably a hundred times more genuine to the Aussie way of life than [[Crocodile Dundee]].
* [[No Budget]]: The film has been rumoured to have an astronomically small budget (less than $20,000), although the accepted figure is closer to $100,000. Either way, they shot the entire thing over 11 days to save on the catering bill, and renamed the main family so [[Real Life Writes the Plot|they could use real tow trucks borrowed from a business called "Kerrigans Towing". ]]
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** Lawrence and Dennis provide an interesting contrast too - Lawrence's background is top flight "big picture law", while Dennis has always handled bread-and-butter legal work like wills and conveyancing. And he can't read Roman numerals.
* [[Running Gag]]: The reason the movie's [[Catch Phrases]] are so memorable.
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* [[Trophy Room]]: The "pool room" is where Darryl keeps his greyhound trophies, family photos and cherished gifts. If he truly appreciates something, he declares it will go "[[Catch Phrase|straight to the pool room]]."
* [[Shown Their Work]]: The power of compulsory acquisition is a [
* [[Self-Deprecation]]: Portrays typical lower-class Australians as being [[Working Class People Are Morons|moronic]], simple, naive, racially ignorant and politically incorrect. Australians love it.
** Although the Kerrigans are racially ignorant, ignorance is repeatedly shown to be correctible - Daryl learns a little Greek to talk to his in-laws and comes to a deeper understanding of the Native Title issue as a result of his struggles in the film.
* [[Shout
* [[The Danza]]: Wayne Hope as Wayne Kerrigan.
* [[There Is No Higher Court]]: Averted. Darryl's decision is appealed all the way up to the Australian High Court.
* [[Two Decades Behind]]: despite being made in the late 1990s, you could swear the characters are stuck in the 80s. One character even uses a ''typewriter''! (See [[No Budget]].)
* [[Where Are They Now? Epilogue]]: Doubles as the [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]].
▲* [[You Fail Law Forever]]: Averted for ''most'' of the film. Only during Lawrence's [[Rousing Speech]] to the High Court do we get a break from reality, and an appeal to emotion - that even fair monetary compensation can never be "just terms" for the acquisition of your cherished family home and its irreplaceable value. Unfortunately, that's taking things a little too literally. in [[Real Life]] money is basically regarded as the best form of compensation under the law.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Australian Movies]]
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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