Film
Kenny
- Gross-out comedy
- Light-hearted
Kenny is an Australian comedy about a cheerful septic tank pump operator who services porta-loos across the country, culminating in a pilgrimage to a sewage industry expo in Nashville. It's a film that finds profound humanity and humor in unglamorous work, celebrating the quiet dignity of people who keep things running. Sweet, funny, and wholly unpretentious.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you enjoy modest, good-natured comedies about ordinary working men and the dignity they find in an unglamorous job, told without much fuss.
Skip it if you need sharp jokes and brisk plotting, since this is loose and episodic, with gags that land softly and a story that drifts from one job to the next.
What it asks of you: Ninety-nine minutes of unhurried, low-key comedy that favors small moments over big set pieces and lets scenes breathe.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Straight Story1999
David Lynch's ode to quiet Midwestern dignity and ordinary life. A man rides his lawnmower across Iowa to reconcile with his brother. Like Kenny, it finds the sacred in the humble and celebrates people society overlooks.
But It moves at a lawnmower's pace. If you expect Lynch's usual strangeness, you'll be disappointed—this is genuinely, almost aggressively wholesome.
Napoleon Dynamite2004
Deadpan indie comedy that loves its misfits without irony. Set in small-town Idaho, it finds comedy in awkwardness and tenderness in the everyday. The same spirit of celebrating the overlooked.
But Its humor is very dry and static. Long stretches where nothing happens, which some find boring rather than meditative.
Sideways2004
A buddy film about two ordinary middle-aged men on a wine country trip. Funny, sad, and deeply human about failure, friendship, and making peace with your life. Similar warmth toward flawed protagonists.
But It's elegiac about aging and disappointment. If you want pure escapism, this will feel a bit melancholic despite the laughs.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Kenny
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Shit Year2010
Both use scatological humor (literal and metaphorical) as the doorway to humanist storytelling. Both find joy and connection in the midst of shit—literally and metaphorically.
An Israeli comedy about a man going through a terrible year—divorce, job loss, illness—and his relationship with his teenage daughter. It finds genuine laughter in despair and celebrates humor as survival. Kenny's Australian warmth applied to a darker situation.
But It's crude and profane in ways Kenny isn't. The humor is often aggressive and the misery is sustained—it doesn't offer easy comfort.
More like this (8)
Krisha2016
A Ukrainian film about a man returning from prison and rebuilding his life through manual work and family. It finds poetry in ordinary labor and celebrates human resilience with genuine affection.
But It's in Ukrainian with subtitles. The pacing is slow and observational, more focused on mood than plot momentum.
About a Boy2002
A charming character study about connection and growing up. It has Kenny's warmth and humor without cynicism, celebrating people society dismisses as strange or inadequate.
But It's fairly conventional in structure. If you want something daring or challenging, this is comfortably mainstream entertainment.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople2016
A New Zealand film about an old man and a foster kid bonding in the bush. It's funny, touching, and full of genuine affection for its characters' oddness and resilience.
But The tone shifts between comedy and sentiment, which can feel tonal for some. The ending is bittersweet rather than triumphant.
Fargo1996
The Coen Brothers' Midwestern masterpiece. It finds dark comedy and human depth in ordinary people, small towns, and unglamorous crime. A masterclass in character and setting.
But It's violent and morally murky. The humor is often dark and the tone shifts dramatically—it's not cozy despite being set in a snowy small town.
Little Miss Sunshine2006
An ensemble road movie about a deeply flawed family driving to a beauty pageant. It's funny and heartfelt about people trying their best despite everything working against them.
But It can feel schematic in how it assembles its quirks. Some find the sentiment manipulative or the indie-ness affected.
The Florida Project2017
A film about families living in budget motels near Disney World. It celebrates resilience and childhood joy amid economic precarity with tenderness and humor. Deeply humanizing without being patronizing.
But It's slow and episodic with no traditional plot. The subject matter is heavy—poverty, fragile childhoods—so the lightness can feel uncomfortable or unearned to some viewers.
Four Lions2010
Both films find humanity and comedy in people and subjects the world treats as contemptible or invisible. Both have the courage to say: these people matter, and you should laugh with them, not at them.
Chris Morris's darkly comic film about incompetent would-be terrorists. It finds unexpected humor and humanity in people society has written off, treating even murderous idiots with bewildering compassion and specificity.
But It's shockingly funny about terrorism, which feels morally dangerous to some. The tone is jarringly inconsistent—it shifts from comedy to real violence without warning.
Okja2017
Both are populist films that refuse cynicism about ordinary people. Both pit an individual's decency against a vast indifferent system, and both believe that matters more than winning.
A wildly ambitious sci-fi fable about corporate cruelty, capitalism, and a girl's bond with a giant engineered creature. It's Bong Joon-ho at his most earnest and visually inventive. Completely different genre, same moral center: ordinary people fighting a rigged system with love.
But It's tonal chaos—superhero adventure, environmental parable, corporate satire, family drama, all colliding. Some find it overstuffed and emotionally manipulative.
People
Cast
Shane JacobsonKenny Smyth- Eve von BibraJackie Sheppard
- Ronald JacobsonFather
- Ian DrydenSammy
- Chris DavisPat
- Donald MacDonaldSeminar Presenter
Directing
- Clayton JacobsonDirector
Writing
- Clayton JacobsonWriter
- Shane JacobsonWriter
Production
- Shane JacobsonCo-Producer
- Clayton JacobsonProducer
- Rohan TimlockProducer
- Nicole BardyProduction Manager