Castle, The

The patriarch of a cheerfully tacky Australian family (Michael Caton) fights back when the airport next door wants to demolish his ramshackle home to make room for a new runway. This latest entry in the wacky-Aussie-comedy sweepstakes, shot in an incredible 11 days, became the top-grossing movie in Australia last year. It’s not hard to see why: Despite its primitive simplicity, the film is all but irresistible, with something like the inspired silliness that made The Gods Must Be Crazy such a surprise success. Writers Santo Cilauro and Tom Gleisner know how to milk a running gag, like the father’s pride in his wife’s cooking (“What do you call this?” “Meat loaf.”), and Rob Sitch’s direction is of the sturdy, don’t-let-the-actors-bump-into-each-other school of filmmaking.