Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

Directed by Taika Waititi. Starring Julian Dennison, Sam Neill, Rachel House, Rhys Darby, Rima Te Wiata, Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Cohen Holloway, Oscar Kightley. [PG-13]

Charmingly offbeat, provincial Kiwi comedy takes several familiar tropes (fish-out-of-water adventure, surly adult grudgingly growing fond of endearing youngster, etc.) and gives them a fresh spin thanks to on-target casting and the filmmakers’ kooky wit. Problematic youth Dennison is sent to live on an isolated farm with a foster family (affectionate Te Wiata and cantankerous Neill), but things don’t go as planned, and soon, Dennison and his “uncle” are roughing it in the wilderness while evading a manhunt led by the Terminator (technically, child services officer House, but she “said it first”). Short on narrative surprises and logic/credibility, but it’s so gently weird, stealthily poignant, and consistently amusing that it’s hard to gripe. Darby very nearly steals the whole picture when he shows up late in the film as a loner living off the grid known as “Psycho Sam” (“Is it a man, or a bush? Bush. Man. Bush-man!”). Writer/director Waititi has a small role as a minister.

77/100