The Coca-Cola Kid

1985 corporate satire

Rating: 13/20

Plot: A carbonated beverage company troubleshooter heads to Australia to help the product reach parts of the continent it hasn't yet reached. An eccentric businessman stands in his way.

"The world will not be truly free until Coke is available everywhere."

From Dusan Makavejev, whose Sweet Movie, WR: Mysteries of the Organism, and Man Is Not a Bird challenged me if they didn't actually excite me. This one works best when Makavejev gets a little quirky. Odd animals--your customary kangaroo with a sling but also a recurring mouse character and an unexpected camel--quirk things up, and there are also scenes with Santa Clauses driving Coca-Cola trucks, sex scenes with a plethora of feathers, an inconsequential side plot with a hotel employee mistaking the titular kid for a CIA operative, a few odd musical moments with a didgeridoo and without a didgeridoo, and feisty locals to keep us on our toes.

Satirically, this doesn't seem to work. In fact, the movie doesn't even seem all that sure that it wants to be a satire. There are certain lines, like the one quoted above, and a few moments, most notably a soliloquy delivered by the Coca-Cola Kid, that make it seem like it's a satire, a culture clash examining the influence of arrogant big business on the far corners of the world. The film's too uneven to really be about much of anything though.

Eric Roberts delivered a fascinating performance, like he was channeling Matthew McConaughey before McConaughey was a thing. The accent is all over the place, and I'm not sure where his emotions are at times, but he surprises by becoming a presence in a lot of these scenes. His best scene is in a boardroom where he delivers that soliloquy that I mentioned. There's some nutty passion in there, and a great move where he shines a light through a glass of Coke to illuminate the room in this fizzy brown.

Though I had no problem looking at Eric Roberts, especially when he was sans shirt, Greta Scacchi was a real stunner as the love interest in what might be classified as a romantic comedy. Bill Kerr is also great as the local soft drink mogul, and he gets two separate first appearances that are great. One is a shot from far away that includes shots from far away. You'd understand that stupid pun if you saw this movie. The other is a close-up where his real head eclipses his painted head on a logo.

Oddly paced and struggling with an uneven tone and narrative, this film is still one I almost liked. At least I wanted to like it more.  It is worth watching for the more idiosyncratic moments, and it's especially of interest to fans of camels.

It seems, by the way, that I'm seeing more movies with camels lately than I usually see. I wonder what that means.