Lowdown Dirty Criminals

What is it?

Lowdown Dirty Criminals is a New Zealand crime comedy film. It follows two young men in search of a better life. When Freddy loses his job, he and his best buddy Marvin naively conclude a life of crime may lead them to the wealth and standing they desire. But when they mess up their first job while working for the shady Mr Speights, a sequence of hilarious and violent events snowball out of control, and they eventually find themselves the targets of “The Upholsterer” and her henchmen.

What to expect

Lowdown Dirty Criminals is a light hearted comedy film. The film’s unrestricted availability is likely to be injurious to the public good predominantly due to its treatment of sex, crime and violence. The overt sexual material is clearly aimed at an older audience, who are expected to have some knowledge of sex, sexual behaviours and sexual relationships. The main characters cleverly evade law enforcement and the crimes they commit are depicted in a light-hearted manner- giving the film a certain level of moral ambiguity. Younger audiences are unlikely to put these elements into their filmic and generic contexts without being negatively affected. The violence is likely to be normalised by children as a way of retaliating against others, and could affect their ability to empathise with the real life suffering of others.