Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

First things first: Placid Lake is a person not a place and this irksome Aussie comedy has nothing to do with monster croc flick Lake Placid. Instead it's a toothless satire on the doldrums of corporate life that stars Oz rocker Ben Lee as misfit suburban kid called Placid. Desperate to be an ordinary Joe, Placid abandons his principles and takes a 9-5 job in insurance - only to realise that normality isn't all its cracked up to be.

As his name suggests, Placid is too laidback for his own good. Raised by drop-out hippie parents (gamely played by Miranda Richardson and Garry McDonald), he's suffered from being bully-bait all his school life with only Plain Jane superbrain Gemma (Rose Byrne) for company. Then he hits on a masterstroke: instead of being different, why not try to fit in by quitting school, getting a George W Bush haircut and joining the rat race? From zero to hero in three simple steps...

"A BITTER CRITIQUE OF THE BOARDROOM JUNGLE"

Sharply funny in its vision of a world where young executives swap their souls for "saloon cars and big houses" and office furniture comes in two shades of black, McNamara's film plays as a bitter critique of the boardroom jungle. While singer turned actor Lee smirks his way through the material charmingly, the movie's central theme - individuality should be cherished, not abandoned - is all too familiar. Fizzling out into a whiny plea for tolerance of each other's differences, you can't help wishing that the satire had come with a lot more of the promised rage.