Simon (Joel Edgerton) is married to Pam (Danielle Cormack), the woman of his dreams but seven years of marriage have passed since their happy wedding day at Pukerua Bay, near Wellington, New Zealand. Two children have arrived with all the attendant stress and sleep deprivation, and the dream bride is now not so interested in sex. Simon falls for the beautiful Katrien (Rhona Mitra from Boston Legal), a cellist and friend of his wife who, goaded by his infidelities, has just left her husband Klaus (Thomas Kretschmann), an artist. Simon's and Katrien's attempts at adultery are thwarted until Simon, a ministerial staffer, travels to a conference in Berlin with his cabinet minister boss, the improbably named Archie Boyle (Alan Lovell), where the story comes to a climax, so to speak. Afterwards, everyone is engaged in picking up the pieces.
Watching a film about adultery is rather like witnessing a car crash in slow motion. You know someone is going to get hurt and there's nothing you can do about it. Here, writer Tom Scott, the brilliant NZ cartoonist and satirist, has made it so funny that you almost forget about the pain. The film, directed by Paul Middleditch, has a lot of flaws – ineffective use of the narration device, uninformative opening sequences, a failure to tie things up (consider Klaus's painting of a pohutukawa tree shown near the end – only NZers will associate it with the land of the long lost vowel), and some naff acting. Nevertheless I enjoyed the film immensely. Some of the set pieces are hilarious – the men's group meetings, Simon's frank conversations with his more worldly best mate Harry (Les Hill), and the antics in Berlin (Les Patterson and Bazza McKenzie definitely have their NZ equivalents). The location shots in and around Wellington are glorious – the crew should be commended for their patience in waiting for those rare windless Wellington days, though they did not always get what they wanted.
As Rhona Mitra is drop-dead gorgeous it is not hard to feel some (male) sympathy for Simon, who does make an effort to resist her charm. Their affair is indeed an accident and painful for both. On discovering the affair, Pam storms off, but her bond with Simon is stronger than it first appears. It's not easy, but trust can be restored despite what the doomsayers tell us.
Joel Edgerton is effective as a man swept along by strong feelings despite his better judgment and Rhona Mitra is fine as the other woman. Danielle Cormack was not so convincing as the wronged woman. Thomas Kretschmann makes a thoroughly dislikeable Klaus – arrogant and callous. I liked Les Hill as Harry the pub philosopher but he is probably an acquired taste eg "there's no such thing as premature ejaculation, only delayed orgasm."
Like many NZ films the comedy here does not always neatly complement the more serious themes. This, I think, stems from the antipodean tendency to make light of near or actual disaster, an attitude embodied in the phrase "she'll be right". New Zealanders are optimists, opportunists and great improvisers, but not ones to ponder the meaning of life. Errol the fireman (Mike Minogue) does ask the question in the men's group. He is met with an uncomfortable silence.