Awards: NZ Film and Television Awards, 2000 Best supporting actress (Elizabeth Hawthorne), Best original music (Dean Savage), Best costume design (Emily Carter), Best design (Gary Mackay), Best makeup (Denise Kum)

“Go on, indulge your inner hoon.”

“Mickey and Louise Savage have shared a riotous if not fun-filled rock ‘n’ roll existence for 20 years. But a couple of children, gallons of booze and acres of skin-tight leather later, the cracks in their marriage are beginning to show. With son Dean threatening to fire bomb his ex’s wedding, and daughter Leesa biking her way to an early grave, it is all too clear that they need some time out. Mickey and Louise head off to their favourite resort, for what they hope will be a romantic second honeymoon. Needless to say, their plans are soon hijacked by their hilariously dysfunctional family, keen to make their contribution to the Savage family honeymoon. Savage Honeymoon is both a humorous take on modern parents who just can’t stop rocking, and an engaging exploration of the strength of family bonds under extreme pressure. First-time director Mark Beesley offers an all too rarely seen celebration of the lives and passions of imperfect characters in their middle years, characters one could never imagine seeing in such positive light in contemporary Hollywood fare. If you enjoyed the Australian comedy The Castle, or fancy a rock ‘n’ roll trip through the underside of Kiwi culture, this is the film for you.” — Sarah Lutton, 43rd London Film Festival, 2000

“It’s virtually impossible to dislike this, the newest local film, which concerns itself with the abortive second honeymoon of Mickey and Louise Savage, the king and queen of the speedway set. Even chief censor Bill Hastings admitted that he liked it as he slammed an R18 rating on it for its characters’ irresponsible use of beer, bourbon and LPG. That rating has been softened on appeal, which will alarm those concerned about teenage drinking. But the alcohol-soaked Savages are all of legal drinking age and their attitude – that drinking is family fun – is unquestionably part of the culture the film depicts. It’s a film with a such a self-confident swagger that it gets under our skin, largely because it has the courage of its own restrictions. Beesley, who also wrote, isn’t going to get all deep and meaningful with us here and he doesn’t want us to either. He just wants to show us an affectionate portrait of a family muddling through a crisis and he sticks to his task with admirable single-mindedness… A 40-print release suggests the film’s distributors have plenty of confidence in this one. With a bit of luck – and thanks to the censor’s free publicity – that confidence should not be misplaced.” —Peter Calder, New Zealand Herald, 11 March 2000

“If the kerfuffle over the censorship rating for this film was a storm in a six-pack, it has also presented the makers with the unexpected gift of free publicity. But that might be a two-edged sword: will those turning up primarily to see the promised ‘irresponsible behaviour associated with alcohol’ (not to mention barbecue equipment) be disappointed? They shouldn’t be. The scenes in question are briefer than you might have been led to expect, but they are, nevertheless, pretty funny. Not to be encouraged, of course, but somewhere in your gut and your funnybone you know there is something deeply Kiwi about such moments, and you laugh the laughter of recognition. You’d have to have lived a very sheltered life in this country not to have witnessed, maybe even – God forbid – participated in, or at the very least been aware of incidents where alcohol and responsibility did not exactly go hand-in-hand. No doubt this is the Office of Film and Literature Classification’s point – but, let’s face it, making it R18 is a bit like shutting the stable door, etc And, after all, this is a film about Westies, written and directed by a Westie, designed to put the Westie play-hard go-hard subculture on screen. I suspect this is a sanitised version of the real thing, but there’s still enough here to appeal to the Westie in all of us. (Go on, indulge your inner hoon.) … It’s all good dirty fun, nothing too serious or demanding. Westie with the edges knocked off by a warmheartedness and more than a few good laughs. Oh, yeah … and a few not so quiet beers.” — Helen Wong, Listener, 25 March 2000

“The Office of Film and Literature Classification took exception to ‘anti-social behaviour, including conspicuous and substantial consumption of alcohol. The behaviour of characters in the film while under the influence of alcohol is commonly presented as comic,’ the office said in its decision. ‘However, actions such as placing a gas cylinder on a bonfire where it could explode … is extremely foolhardy. Yet it is likely to have an appeal to audiences as a stunt to try.’ Chief censor Bill Hastings said the decision noted the approach was comic but legislation did not distinguish between comedy and drama. He said the comic nature of the film undermined the seriousness of the consequences of drinking alcohol in real life. The film’s makers have lodged an appeal…” — The Dominion 10 February 2000

“‘The whole issue has been good for the film,’ Beesley says. ‘The chief censor, bless his heart, has given us free publicity. We didn’t have a marketing budget to match Titanic. Now it’s R15, all’s well that ends well.” — Rocky start to Honeymoon, Dominion, 9 March 2000

Screenings: Savage Honeymoon screened on 8-11 December 2011 as a season honouring the final episode of Outrageous Fortune; and on 25 October 2006 as part of the Censored: NZ Films and the Censor's Office selection