Three things to know about Paul Hogan before watching this: 1 – He’s repaid all his debts to the taxman. 2 – As a painter before acting, he helped paint the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 3 – His voice is just as ocker as it’s always been. These explain his allowance to film in Australia, the post-credits blooper and, well, that this is an Aussie comedy. But Hogan’s not the hero in this father-son bonding journey as we see a road-trip yet again the story centrepiece. Australian films use this regularly (see Thunderstruck) but Charlie & Boots maintains enough decent humour with an entertaining duo to create an engaging story.

Ah, the age-old mystery… trying to work out the meaning of life brings purpose to some and scepticism to others – Bart Simpson has a book on it, and the Monty Python team satirised it. But let’s get serious and face the fact that life isn’t all peachy, and accept that we always try to rid ourselves of the pain for want of happiness. The fickle thing about the meaning of life is that there’s never one straight answer, and everyone’s interpretations best suit their personal situation. Stories that tackle this agenda face the risk of opening themselves up to criticism if they don’t entirely believe in what they’re saying… $9.99 does, but it struggles to reveal exactly what it wants to convey.