Rose Byrne

While it's amusing and sometimes very funny, there's an air of desperation about this sequel to the 2014 breakout hit comedy. The main problem is that, instead of pushing the characters forward in any way, the plot is basically a rehash of the exact same series of events. So the cast and crew rush through it in the hopes that audiences might not notice, throwing in issues like girl power and gay marriage to make it look like they noticed the criticisms of the first movie.

It's been a year or so, and now Mac and Kelly (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) are selling their house to move to the suburbs before the birth their second child. But just as the sale is agreed, a sorority moves in next door, founded by Shelby (Chloe Grace Moretz) in defiance of the usual frat-house rules. They get help from former fraternity leader Teddy (Zac Efron), who's aimless because his best pal Pete (Dave Franco) has just agreed to marry his boyfriend. So Mac and Kelly are worried that the loud parties are going to jeopardise the sale, and when talking with Shelby fails, the stand-off escalates into all-out war. And when the girls turn on him, Teddy swaps sides to help take them down.

The dialogue is packed with hilariously wrong humour, mainly adult gags that are spoken around very young children. The idea of a little girl who chooses a pink dildo as her favourite toy is good for one laugh, but perhaps not the next 10 the filmmakers try to wring from it. Meanwhile, there's a strange exhaustion in the air, as both Teddy and Mac seem tired of all of this nonsense. Efron and Rogen play the roles with impeccable timing, but both seem aware that they've already pushed these characters as far as they possibly can. Byrne has a lot more spark, and provides most of the best laughs. And Moretz shows some skill at spiky silliness.

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The ace partnership between filmmaker Paul Feig and actress Melissa McCarthy evolves into something formidable with this raucous action comedy, which simultaneously spoofs the espionage genre and provides some genuine thrills. From ensemble player (Bridesmaids) to costar (The Heat) and now to the star of the show, McCarthy finds a role worthy of her talents, subverting rather than exploiting her distinct physicality.

She plays Susan Cooper, a desk-jockey at the CIA who works with the field agents, guiding them by radio link through their dangerous paces. When star spy Bradley Fine (Jude Law) is taken out of service and all other top agents have their covers blown, the boss (Allison Janney) has little choice but to send the well-trained Susan into the field to take down the villainous arms dealer Rayna (Rose Byrne). With her best pal Nancy (Miranda Hart) as her office-bound helper, Susan gets into a series of disguises and travels to Paris, Rome and then Budapest. And despite the constant attempts of rogue agent Rick Ford (Jason Statham) to "help" her, Susan gets ever closer to Rayna and her gangster buyer Sergio (Bobby Cannavale).

The relatively simple plot is overcrowded with characters and subplots that add absurd layers of humour to the film, almost all of which are genuinely hilarious. Best of all, none of the laughs come at the expense of Susan, a capable, smart, witty woman who's the perfect alter ego for McCarthy (and certainly much more engaging than her obnoxious-slob persona in The Heat or Tammy). She has terrific chemistry with all of her costars, flirting shamelessly with the Bond-like Law, an amusingly swaggering Statham and especially the purringly hysterical Byrne. As always, the great Janney steals every one of her few scenes. Less effective is an extended goofy cameo by Curtis Jackson, aka 50 Cent, who at least shows willing to dive into some ridiculous comedy. There's also another terrific foil in Susan's local contact Aldo, played with leering, opportunistic relish by Peter Sarafinowicz.

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Life-changing moments feature in each of the nine short films in this Australian anthology, and each is told with remarkable artistry and sensitivity. While the filmmakers use different styles of filmmaking, there's a clever connection between the shorts, as themes of inner longing are made resonant by earthy honesty. So even if each brief segment film feels like just a fragment of an idea, taken together the film is remarkably moving.

It opens and closes with the animated "Ash Wednesday", using the T.S. Elliot poem to explore the idea of communal memory. From here a variety of mini-stories unfurl, often using the same character names even though the films are dramas, comedies or documentaries, and many have no dialogue at all. The lighter clips include "Reunion", in which a couple (Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh) are surprised that spending Christmas with his mum isn't as awful as expected. "Cockleshell" follows a young guy (Toby Wallace) who's obsessed with the girl (Brenna Harding) next door. And both "Big World" and "Boner McPharlin's Moll" take lively kaleidoscopic looks at how reality is often nothing like our idea of how things should be.

Other segments are dark and provocative, including "Aquifer", about a man (Callan Mulvey) who is pushed by a news headline to recall a painful childhood memory. Two young boys (Jakory and Jarli-Russell Blanco) have a creepy adventure while on a beach day out with their dad and uncles in "Sand". The most moving film is "Commission", in which a young man (Josh McConville) drives to the outback to tell his estranged dad (Hugo Weaving) that his mother is dying. The best performance comes from Rose Byrne in the eponymous "The Turning", as a trailer-trash wife and mother whose friendship with a rich woman (Miranda Otto) sparks a religious epiphany. And the most unforgettable short is "Long, Clear View", impressively directed by Mia Wasikowska, which follows a young boy (Matthew Shanley) playing with his dad's rifle.

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