The Argues – A story of redemption, ducks, frequent flyer points and angry agents.

Once upon a time in down town Melbourne Australia, there lived a man; no ordinary man; an artist, a clown, an actor with wit, who also likes to make a little trouble ….. stir the pot you might say! David Argue is his name. David had a dream; a dream that would see him take his mother Pat around the world, visiting the places that his parents had been in the 1950s when they had toured and skated with “Holiday On Ice”. David had had this wish this since his father Graham passed some time ago.

But David was doing it tough; getting clean, no more alcohol and no work and, living with his septuagenarian mum in her very suburban home. He took to making puppets for therapy. One of these he called Leon Skank, a dangerously funny and very mouthy duck; David’s alter ego you might say!

The once great, and highly respected Australian actor who had appeared beside both Mel Gibson and Nicole Kidman and in classic Aussie films like Razorback, Going Down and Blood Oath, to name just a few, was convinced that with a bit of skating, healthy eating, general good living and a good attitude his dream, might just come true. Then one day the earth “moved” and the puppet Leon Skank came to life. Like the proverbial Genie in the bottle he granted David one wish. And he wished his wish, to take his mother around the world.

But David being David, and an actor, and out of work, had other things on his mind; make a splash, make a film of the trip find himself an agent, re-launch his career. He had big, big plans! He’d starred in many a movie so he was more than happy to try and make his come back in Hollywood

Once in Los Angeles, the city of angels, Pat and David meet up with an old “Holiday on Ice” skating buddy of Pat and Graham’s, Stewart. Ecstatic to see Pat again and keen to help David in his quest, Stewart offers to act as David’s manager. He quickly sets about finding an agent.

But David tells everyone he is Leon Skank! He thinks this will get him the attention he needs. Limo at the ready he cruises the streets of LA thrusting the ebullient Leon at anyone who’ll stop and pay attention. Batman, Darth Vader, the very reverend Reverend and footpaths full of gawking on-lookers are both dumb struck, or Skank struck as it were, and more than amused by the rapid beaked repartee of this very strange visitor to their already very strange shores.

David begins emailing everyone he can think of. All the major Hollywood media, Variety, ETN, ETW, Hollywood Reporter, LA Times, everyone gets a release saying that Ed Tomato from ICU -one of the biggest agents in town – is now representing him, that is LEON!

This makes Ed Tomato furious. He has to find who this “person” Skank is, and more importantly, why he is telling everyone he, the great Tomato, is representing him, when he is patently, not! He turns his entire office to the task; and so the chase is on. David has got what he wants; he just doesn’t know it yet.

Having rollerbladed Venice Beach, cruised Hollywood and Vine, and crushed the tomato, Pat and David head to New York. Graham and Pat skated here more than 50 years ago. Pat and David skate the same rink and reminisce of the love the once very successful skaters, Pat & Graham shared, as well the good times they had. With Ed Tomato still perplexed, even more so after finding the gifts left for him by David, Pat and her ever more edgy off-spring embark on the next leg of their round the world odyssey and head to Florence, leaving Ed a message to contact them there!

But things are not going well for The Argues. The nerves of both are starting to fray; they are not getting along so well, in fact the temperature has gone very icy. David is in full rude flight and Pat is not amused. They agree to make the next leg separately. They split up and go their own way. Pat goes to Venice by train and David makes his own way there. Without Pat, David is alone. This allows another of his characters “Iris” to come to life. Its in Venice that we meet her, a demure, softly spoken woman who loves nothing more than to navigate the canals in her gondolier, sprouting words of weird and wonderful wisdom about anything that pops into her head; unfortunately sometimes she says just a little too much!

Pat and David reunite in Venice and they make up with a toast to Graham. All is well again and with unexpected news from Stuart that David has work in Dubai they are travelling again to secure David an agent. After their arrival in the oil rich emirate it’s revealed that its Leon and not David who’s to be the star. Pat’s furious; all the work to get David back up his feet and its the crazy duck who’s getting all the attention! But David is happy to let the Duck have his moment! And its the Duck who saves the day. Finally Ed Tomato sees the Leon at work and in the limelight, researches the Argues and decides that David, Pat and Leon could make a great team.

He hops on a plane to meet them in Melbourne and arrives in time to share a Christmas bash in the Argues backyard! It’s a huge surprise for David and Pat as Ed makes a solid Hollywood offer for ” A mother, a son and a duck! ”

Has David’s dream has come true?

Or was all just a dream?

You will have to see the film to find out.

The Argues Movie
www.thearguesthemovie.com