Gettin' Square is a crime caper movie set on Australia's Gold Coast

Gold Coast, Queensland

Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...

 and directed by Jonathan Teplitzky. The protagonists are ex-criminals trying to keep out of trouble.

Gettin' Square won nominations at several Australian ceremonies including the AFI Awards

Australian Film Institute Awards

The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award, known as the AACTA Award , is an accolade presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts . The awards recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry and television industry, including directors,...

, Inside Film Awards

Inside Film Awards

The Inside Film Awards is an annual awards ceremony and broadcast platform for the Australian film industry, a format created by Australian Producer Andrew Dillon...

, Australian Comedy Awards, and Critics Circle Awards. Wenham's performance as Spiteri saw him win the Best Actor category in every major Australian film award through 2003.

Chris Nyst has also written and directed another feature film, Crooked Business

Crooked Business

Crooked Business is a feature film by Chris Nyst, a successful criminal lawyer. It is a comedy of errors set in Australia's Gold Coast. It opened in Australia on 15 October 2008.-Synopsis:...

, which was released in 2008.

Plot

Barry Wirth is a retired small time criminal who is released on parole from following the death of his mother to care for his younger brother Joey. He had been serving time for a manslaughter he claims he did not commit. Following his release trouble begins brewing for the big criminals of Surfers Paradise when a corrupt accountant Warren Halliwell who handles their money laundering is arrested for an illicit affair and has his records taken by the Crime Investigation Commission (CIC) who then use it to seize many ill gotten assets and subpoena many Gold Coast Criminals. This creates trouble for an ex-criminal, Darren "Dabba" Barrington, whose money from previous crimes has been seized as well as Chicka Martin a big time criminal. Meanwhile Barry seeks employment which he eventually obtains as a worker at a service station which is how he is reunited with Johnny "spit" Spitieri who robs the store. Johnny is a small time criminal and junkie who Barry aids in return for Johnny's help when they were in prison together. The main conflict of the film is caused when Johnny Spitieri is arrested for a drug deal which leaves him owing twenty thousand dollars to Chicka. This and the corrupt detective DeVier's continued abuse of Barry leads to Barry creating a plan to allow him, his brother, Johnny and Dabba to 'get square' (go straight).

External links

• Review at SMH.com.au
• IMDb entry
• Rotten Tomatoes entry
• Gettin' Square at the National Film and Sound Archive