Huievest
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
ChanFamous
I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Lachlan Coulson
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
Lela
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
mudminnow01
One of my favorite series on HBO! The most accurate portrayal of a troubled teen that I have ever seen apart from real life. Jonah From Tonga has received many bad criticisms for Chris's use of so called "Black Face", the whole point of the show has been lost on political correctness. How could Chris expect anyone else to accurately play Jonah when he created the character in his mind and depends on the use of improve when he is in character? If you take the time to actually watch the show and see how Jonah develops over the series, then you would see a whole backdrop of cultural, and social elements forming to shape a young impressionable mind into a functional member of society, and your own racist ideas will fade. It takes a village and that is what I believe the whole concept behind this masterfully put together show proves. By the way if you are only into mind numbing cookie-cutter shows and can't step out of the politically correct conformist societal box, then go watch Friends re-runs.
lilahnjay
First I would Like to say that U need to have a big sense of humor and a open mind to watch this show. I seen some reviews that say they are "tired" of hearing his jokes and him being rebellious. That is Jonahs personality learn to accept it or don't watch it. My Husband and I do like the show; Even though we viewed disrespect towards others and racist jokes it was funny. Come on we all want to say those bad things to others sometimes; Or say A racist joke. The point is to my review, Don't take it Literally OR personally. Its just acting... Very good acting. Chris Lilley did a Awsm job. We cant wait to see what he is going to come out with next.
meggafish
This show is a tragedy disguised as a comedy. Lots of swearing, nut punching, more swearing, dancing, corny jokes (the point of which is to be corny.) Not one original or fresh idea in the whole show. It plays like an old time minstrel show, where white men donned black-face to make fun of black people. I can't imagine who commissioned this tragedy. As you watch it you can see Jonah's future unfold; pregnant girlfriends, multiple children growing up like him, a series of minimum wage jobs, punctuated by long periods of unemployment and jail time. Later there will substance abuse leading to addiction and homelessness and the last act will be when he is murdered or dies at 44. Not much of a comedy in that is there? The fact that people find this funny is another disturbing aspect of show. I hope it gets canceled as soon as possible. We have enough people like "Jonas" in the world already and I fear this moron will become a popular part of popular culture, like the knock-out game and similar b.s. that mass media disseminates over the airwaves. To sum up, kill it before it spreads.
David Anthony
Well, this was definitely better than J'amie: Private School Girl, but that honestly isn't that hard. Jonah as a character had a decent amount of depth, and there were some genuinely heartwarming moments scattered throughout the six episode series. But there was little to nothing in the way of character development and the humour was very repetitive and unfortunately not very funny to begin with. Like with J'amie, there was just too much focus on a single character for the series to really work that well. Summer Heights High is still Chris Lilley at his best - three strong characters, an engaging plot, and just incredibly funny. Unfortunately he hasn't managed to even get close to it since, and whilst this was a small step in the right direction, it's something I'll have forgotten about very quickly.