Movie Review: Butterfly Crush

<i>Butterfly Crush</i> art director Stewart Fulljames (left) and director Alan Clay flank one of the film's lead actors, Amelia Shankley. Photo / Tracey Grant

Oh dear. As much as I hate to bag a small-scale local film, this romantic drama is virtually unwatchable.

Ex-lovers Moana (Courtney Hale) and Eva (Hayley Fielding), aka song-and-dance duo Butterfly Crush, are on the brink of fame in Sydney when virtual-sex cult The Dreamguides gets its claws into Eva. Cue a drawn-out tug-of-war.

Posting podcasts as though these are real-life girls who've found fame online cleverly shores up the theme of the blurring between illusion and reality. But while the promotion is slick, the end product is utterly unconvincing: an implausible plot, wooden acting/dialogue, uneven lighting and cringeworthy performance interludes.

If this were a film student's effort, it would scrape a pass. But on the big screen, it doesn't.

Rated M; 90 minutes. Out now

-Herald On Sunday / View