“Crocodile” Dundee

Directed by Peter Faiman, “Crocodile” Dundee follows grizzled Australian bushman Mick Dundee (Paul Hogan) as he meets and falls for an American reporter (Linda Kozlowski’s Sue Charlton). Filmmaker Faiman, working from a screenplay by Ken Shadie, John Cornell, and Hogan, offers up a deliberately-paced yet progressively engrossing endeavor that benefits from its charming performances and recurring emphasis on entertaining fish-out-of-water elements, and it’s apparent, certainly, that Hogan and Kozlowski’s superb work here is heightened by their very real, very palpable chemistry together – with the affable dynamic between their respective characters ranking high on the picture list of agreeable attributes. And while Faiman’s relaxed approach admittedly does result in a handful of lulls, “Crocodile” Dundee, buoyed by a note-perfect (and unexpectedly emotional) final scene, primarily comes off as an above-average comedy that’s rarely, if ever, as silly as its reputation might’ve indicated.

***1/2 out of ****