Having scored an Oscar for his song-writing contributions to The Muppets, Bret McKenzie now reacquaints us with the idiosyncratic comedic chops he honed in Flight of the Conchords. Returning to his old New Zealand stomping grounds, McKenzie stars as Nige, a luckless dimwit whose road (movie) to ruin commences with a little vehicular manslaughter and only gets messier from there. With blood on both his hands and front bumper, Nige enlists the aid of his old pal Deano (Hamish Blake). And while willing to do just about anything to rekindle his flickering friendship with Nige, Deano proves to be the last guy you want discretely disposing of a body.

Showing a knack for juggling the absurd, antic and gruesome, director Robert Sarkies employs hairpin plot turns to keep viewers perpetually off-balance. Nige and Deano’s downward spiral is so deliriously entertaining that you may be surprised when this 1993-set dark comedy finally burrows to its emotional core: a bromance founded on undying devotion. Don’t let their scraggly mullets and foul mouths fool you: these boys wear their hearts on their y-fronts.

"McKenzie, Blake and Maaka Pohatu, as a rotund Maori rival for Nige’s man-love, are broad but sympathetic, and the pic’s period look impresses."—Boyd van Hoeij, Variety