Griff the Invisible

A likeable (if uneven) little comedy, Griff the Invisible follows oddball office worker Griff (Ryan Kwanten) as he attempts to keep his neighborhood safe by becoming a masked crime fighter during his off hours. It’s clear almost immediately that Griff the Invisible receives a lot of mileage out of Kwanten’s incredibly strong performance, as the actor effortlessly sheds his True Blood persona to convincingly become this low-key, decidedly antisocial character. And while the stuff revolving around his homemade-superhero alter-ego is fairly compelling, there’s little doubt that the film’s most rewarding aspect is the tentative relationship between Griff and an almost equally quirky neighbor (Maeve Dermody’s Melody). The two share a genuine chemistry with one another that ultimately proves impossible to resist, and it’s subsequently not surprising to note that the movie does begin to lose the viewer’s interest whenever the focus is taken off their exploits (which unfortunately does happen more and more as the film progresses into its strangely sci-fi-oriented final half hour). The end result is a film that’s more effective as a portrait of social misfits in love than as an over-the-top action comedy, yet Griff the Invisible, which certainly has its moments, remains worth a look if only for Kwanten’s almost revelatory performance.

**1/2 out of ****