The concept of mateship figures heavily in our national identity. On the small screen, it's used every evening to sell us stuff ranging from building supplies to anti-drink drive messages. Our best Olympic configuration these days seems to be teams of two almost-matching blokes.
And, of course, our greatest comedy export is a double act of seemingly best buddies, one of whom - Bret McKenzie - appears in this black comedy, which attempts to do for mateship what Psycho did for moteliers and their mums.
Well, sort of. It does suggest throughout its grimly entertaining frequently hilarious duration that mateship can be too much of a good thing - in the case of friends-since-school Nige (McKenzie) and Deano (Hamish Blake of Aussie comedy duo Hamish and Andy) it can turn into very bad thing involving an accidentally killed Norwegian backpacker and efforts to discreetly dispose of his remains in the Southland hinterland.
But as with previous body-disposal black comedies like Shallow Grave and Death in Brunswick, the cadaver caper isn't the whole point of this. It's more about how, having made the decision to try to get away with it, the characters cope with the pressure, the guilt, the grim reality. In this case, not too well.
Having bowled over the Scandinavian tourist in the wee small hours in the middle of Invercargill, dim Nige turns to dim-but-overbearing Deano, with whom he has been having a rocky relationship of late, to figure out what to do.
