Romantic comedy set in the Australian outback, starring Claudia Karvan and Hugh Jackman. Anxious to preserve his macho image, truck driver Jack Willis has just published a bestselling romantic novel under the pseudonym Ruby Vale, the name of his best friend. Complications ensue, however, when Jack's publisher arrives in town to persuade "Ruby" to help promote her book.
A karaoke love duet should be the nail in any film's coffin. Yet this outback-set romantic comedy survives reasonably intact thanks to the amiable performances of Hugh Jackman, as a handsome trucker who secretly pens period romances, and Claudia Karvan, as the feisty crop-dusting mate he persuades to front his popular novel on a PR campaign so that she can afford to marry the local vet. Writer/director Antony J Bowman clearly intended a 1990s variation on battle-of-the-sexes screwball, but ends up with a frothy concoction that might be dubbed a "Crocodile Mills and Boon". With sharp support from Angie Milliken as a Sydney-based publishing executive and Andrew S Gilbert as Karvan's faithful fiancé, this is pleasing but utterly predictable entertainment. Jackman went on to strike gold with his intense portrayal of Wolverine in 2000's hit movie X-Men.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Ruby Vale | Claudia Karvan |
| Jack Willis | Hugh Jackman |
| Ziggy Keane | Angie Milliken |
| Hamish | Andrew S Gilbert |
| Suzie | Jeanie Drynan |
| Artie | Bruce Venables |
| Mad Pete | Barry Rugless |
| Policeman | Barry Lea |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Antony J Bowman |
