In the 22 years since Gettin’ Square graced Australian cinemas, one name has become local pop culture legend: Johnny Spiteri.
Played perfectly by David Wenham, Spit was a bumbling, kind-hearted drug addict who found himself owing money to a kingpin and embroiled in a conspiracy.
Now in 2025 he finds himself at the centre of another scandal and once again on the run from the same people who were trying to hunt him all those years ago.
Spit begins with the titular character back in Australia after many years, he’s back at his mulleted best but now solidly middle-aged and heroin-free and, naturally, immediately finds himself on the wrong side of the law after being caught travelling under a false passport.
Transported to a detention centre, Spit finds himself a new social circle of refugees trying to get to Australia and becomes the leader, teaching them English slang and the importance of a well-placed pejorative.
For those who haven’t yet had the pleasure of watching Gettin’ Square (or have forgotten the plot), Spit is a contentious fellow in the seedy Gold Coast underworld, owing lots of money to bad people and mixed up in a conspiracy he knows little about.
Spit as a film is endlessly entertaining, the joke rate is high—most of them landing well— the characters are engaging, and the film has a surprisingly tender heart.
But unfortunately, Spit doesn’t have all that much to do in his own film.
A portion of the runtime is spent showing where side characters from the first film are now, and there’s a dedicated subplot on the villains wanting to capture and assassinate Spit.
Bits of this are entertaining but none of it has anything to do with Spit himself, leaving the distinct impression he is a subplot in what should be his own movie.
The Spit-free segments of the film relate heavily to Gettin’ Square, meaning those who haven’t seen the original will be asking themselves why these sequences are in here and why they are so long.
Pacing is one of the film’s big issues, it’s a rush to an all-too-familiar finish line at breakneck speed—yet it also drags when the audience is pulled back to scenes of a small-time Gold Coast kingpin with a 20-year-old gripe.
Wenham gleefully plays Spit, portraying the small-time criminal as a very caring, maybe too easy-going yet potentially conniving character, and it’s a joy to watch.
But he’s too passive. Everything happens to Spit and very little happens because of him. Watching him in situations not of his own making simply because they’re entertaining gets a little smooth.
In Spit it’s not the events which matter in the end, it’s (as Dennis Denuto said in another Australian classic The Castle) “about the vibe.”
Spit is rated M and is in cinemas now.
