Crocodile Dundee
1986 · Directed by Peter Faiman
Original language: English
- adventure
- comedy
The story
When a New York reporter plucks crocodile hunter Mick Dundee from the Australian Outback for a visit to the Big Apple, it's a clash of cultures and a recipe for good-natured comedy as naïve Dundee negotiates the concrete jungle. He proves that his instincts are quite useful in the city and adeptly handles everything from wily muggers to high-society snoots without breaking a sweat.
What it’s like
Bright, sun-warmed Australian outback scenes give way to hazy, sodium-orange New York evenings, and the film's look stays broad and sunny rather than moody: wide, easy compositions, daylight interiors, and a clean commercial gloss from the 1980s. Its vibe is light, good-natured and buoyant, a fish-out-of-water comedy with a warm, slightly goofy heart. It suits a lazy weekend afternoon, a comfort rewatch, or an easy evening with friends. The pacing is brisk and jokey, with set-piece gags that land on quick cuts, and the emotional arc follows a gentle, unflappable outsider who wins over a cynical city reporter and loosens her up in return. Violence is present but cartoonish and brief: a few mugging and street-fight moments played for laughs, a knife flashed in a tense beat, and nothing graphic. There is some frank sexual humour and a brothel-adjacent joke, but no explicit content. It is for viewers who want a sunny, low-stakes laugh with a likeable hero and romance that is mostly charm.
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