FORGOTTEN FILM: LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES (1996)

In 1997, a little Australian comedy was released in the US called LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES. It starred no one you had heard of at the time. The director, Emma–Kate Croghan was making her feature debut.

I think I read a review of it in Variety, and added it to me “To See” list. Later, when I saw that it was playing at this tiny, out of the way theatre in the middle of Hartford CT, a theatre I had never been to before, I made the drive to see it.

It was worth it.

It is a very simple story about college students. Set all in one day, two girls are looking for a roommate, another guy is looking for a place to live. One girl has broken up with her girlfriend, and another is looking for a guy who shares her taste in films.

Since one of the characters was a film major, there are all sorts of jokes about college film classes that I appreciated. It is one of the more realistic looks at college life, especially the nightmare involved in adding and dropping a class.

It was just a nicely made little film. It ran less than 80 minutes, and that was it.


While the cast at the time was unknown, some of them went on to bigger things. Many of them have continued to work in Australia, but a couple have made it to the States.

The year after this film, two of the cast members, Matt Day and France O’Connor starred together in another Australian film, KISS OR KILL that got a pretty big US release (even bigger than LOVE, even though it wasn’t quite as good). O’Connor has become popular recently for starring as one of the leads in CASHMERE MAFIA.

But the real break out star from LOVE was Radha Mitchell. She has gone on to star in films such as PITCH BLACK, the underrated thriller WHEN STRANGERS APPEAR, MAN ON FIRE, Woody Allen’s MELINDA AND MELINDA, SILENT HILL, and most recently FEAST OF LOVE.

I wasn’t aware of Emma-Kate Croghan doing anything else, but I noticed she made a 1999 film called STRANGE PLANET with Naomi Watts.

Despite being released by Fox, LOVE didn’t get much love when it comes to video. While it was available on VHS, it came out right at the time that laserdisc was ending and DVD was beginning. A laserdisc release was announced, but then Fox pulled the plug on it at the last minute. It was never issued on DVD in the US.


A Region 4 DVD was released in Australia. It features a commentary by one of the producers.

Since the film doesn’t turn up on TV all that often, it does seem to be forgotten. It is a fun film that deserves a DVD release.