The Coca-Cola Kid

1985 "A movie felt never so refreshing!"
5.9| 1h38m| R| en| More Info
Released: 14 July 1985 Released
Producted By: Australian Film Commission
Country: Australia
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

An eccentric marketing guru visits a Coca-Cola subsidiary in Australia to try and increase market penetration. He finds zero penetration in a valley owned by an old man who makes his own soft drinks, and visits the valley to see why. After "the Kid's" persistence is tested he's given a tour of the man's plant, and they begin talking of a joint venture. Things get more complicated when the Coca-Cola man begins falling in love with his temporary secretary, who seems to have connections to the valley.

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Romance

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Director

Dušan Makavejev

Production Companies

Australian Film Commission

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The Coca-Cola Kid Audience Reviews

Wordiezett So much average
Cortechba Overrated
FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
wes-connors Jetting to Australia on a business trip, Coca-Cola marketing expert Eric Roberts (as A. Becker) has trouble finding an American newspaper and tries to fend off advances from sexy secretary Greta Scacchi (as Terri). She wants to have sex with Mr. Roberts desperately - and won't take "no" for an answer. His mind is more on how to get her tenacious father, eccentric cola producer Bill Kerr (as T. George McDowell), to realize "Coke is it!" The locals have been strangely alienated from America's favorite soft drink. Roberts is famous for tripling Coke intake, but the small Australian community doesn't partake...Dusan Makavejev directs this stylish, but disconnected satire. It seems off-track by the time Roberts attends a gender-bending outing; possibly, this is Ms. Scacchi further testing his sexual availability. She and scene-stealing little Rebecca Smart (as Rebecca aka "DMZ") have a show-stopping nude shower scene; maybe this is to be taken as the pause that refreshes. David Slingsby does well as a fawning waiter who mistakes Roberts for a CIA agent. The original power pop Coca-Cola jingle written by Tim Finn (of Split Enz) is excellent. Absurdity is the rule of thumb, and Roberts' mannequin-like performance fits.****** The Coca-Cola Kid (5/85) Dusan Makavejev ~ Eric Roberts, Greta Scacchi, Bill Kerr, David Slingsby
Matia Hay Makavejev's recipe for finally making some money. And it works! This is in the same time his worst and most famous movie. The stupid Hollywood comedy part and casting attracts random public and secures watchability for everyone, and the other art part was fun to make in his own surrealist style and observe the reactions, including the one from the coca cola company. How did a Serbian avanguard director get to organize such a team and set (action star Eric Roberts as an American marketing guru sent to Australia) remains a funny mystery to me. Every Makavejev movie is completely different so even here it was hard to imagine where will the movie go, this is the first one that made me laugh. Eric is actually very good, Greta Scacchi even better(!), and i also liked the guy with pipe, all the acting is decent, but i think the real star is the little girl (Rebecca Smart), she's just brilliant. So this is basically a crossroad: if you liked the part that made "no" sense google Makavejev, otherwise keep with Eric Roberts.
jtmazibrook The film is billed as a comedy and will indeed leave you laughing at many of the situations the central characters get themselves in and out of. The movie should be viewed as a satire of the great American sales and marketing force on the global marketplace.A hot shot marketing guru from corporate is assigned to help sales down under. He quickly finds a different pace of life and cultural values that he finds hard to adjust to. He continues on "his way" even down to the music for a new series of commercials. He knows "his way" worked well in the U.S. so it should work well anywhere.Humorous side trips make the journey enjoyable as the guru quickly finds a large area that has no Coca Cola sales. He goes to investigate and finds a local soft drink bottler has the entire area to himself.The guru uses every gorilla marketing trick he knows to bring the local bottler into the Coke family, but the local bottler resists and even offers Coke a deal. Coke invades the local's territory and the local realizes he cannot win against the Coke attack.Coke's decisive win costs the company the guru as he finally begins to understand that other things in life, emotions and cultural values, are more important than business wins.I enjoyed the film and recommend it to you, especially if you want to see a funny version of the 60's novel "The Ugly American."
mkrupnick This is that rare find: a truly lovely yet unpretentious film. Never in their careers have Roberts and Scacchi been more genuinely warm and transparently human. Every twitch of the eye and gesture comes across as the real deal. The direction and writing are wonderfully sparse and unaffected, letting the simple story shine through. This is comedy in it's most understated form, and if the viewer is paying attention, he/she can't help but laugh and cry just as we do in life.