Danny Deckchair is an Australian, comedic drama that debuted in the United States on August 11, 2004.

When the movie opens, we are introduced to the eccentric Danny Morgan (Rhys Ifans, The Amazing Spider-Man). We discover early on how miserable Danny is with his current living conditions. His current live-in girlfriend, Trudy Dunphy (Justine Clarke) and he was as different as night and day. She liked the bright city lights while he favored the more quiet country life. There was also one other thing that set Trudy apart from Danny and that is the fact that she had her eye on another man, Sandy Upman (Rhys Muldoon), and Danny was not blind to this fact.

When Trudy ruined their camping plans, Danny had enough so he decided to tie some 45 helium balloons to his deckchair, during an outdoor barbecue, that he was hosting. His friends held him in place for awhile, but they soon let go. Danny was swooped up immediately by the balloons and began soaring through the sky.

He weathered his way through a devastating thunderstorm but that did not put a damper on the enlightening feelings that he felt. He was free and happy for the first time in years even though he was unsure of his future. 

The balloons were popped, one by one, by fireworks. Danny landed, uninjured, in a tree and was immediately assisted to his feet by Glenda Lake (Miranda Otto, The Thin Red Line), who was immediately taken back by this strange being.

The Clarence towns folk automatically welcomed Danny into their town and into their lives. Glenda and Danny have an instant love connection, but that all changes as soon as Trudy shows up to retrieve Danny and take him back home.

Danny has become a big time celebrity, something that he truly hates, but Trudy loves being in the lime life. Danny reminisces about Glenda and his short time that he spent in Clarence. Danny is again faced with the huge task of escaping his old life and returning to Clarence and Glenda.

Will it be too late for Danny and Glenda? Will she ever be able to trust him again? Will the townspeople open their arms wide, yet again, to invite Danny back into their lives, or will they refuse to accept him back into their wonderful, loving community.

Afterthought

Many people can probably relate to Danny because he was very unhappy, to the point that he wanted to escape his life. There have been reported cases where people have just walked away from their family, job, and friends to never be seen again. It questions, whether or not Danny would have ever returned to his old life and Glenda. 

Review

This film is probably very unrealistic, to the fact that one could truly escape their life in a floating deckchair, but one could only wish that this could be possible, for those that are discontent in their life. I guess we can continue to use our imagination to take us to those special places like Clarence. The beautiful scenes gave those of us that have never visited Australia an opportunity to see their beautiful land with panoramic views. This film was not a big screen, box office hit but it definitely deserves 7.5 out of 10.