''A Man's Gotta Do'' is a 2004

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

film from

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, Chris Kennedy. The film stars

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. His eleven-year tenure as prime min ...

Tagline

*Most men hold their head high, put their backs to the wall and do what they must do to give their family what they want.

Cast

as Eddy * Rebecca Frith as Yvonne *

Alyssa McClelland Alyssa McClelland is a director, screenwriter, producer and former actress. She directed the finale episodes of acclaimed Netflix series ''Sex Education'' and was the set-up director of ''Everything Now'', also with Netflix. McClelland directed ...

as Chantelle * Gyton Grantley as Dominic *

Rohan Nichol Rohan Nichol (born 4 July 1976) is an Australian television and film actor. His roles include Raymus Antilles in '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'', Aaron Collingwood in '' All Saints'', and Detective Luc Palermo in ''headLan ...

as Paul * Helen Thomson as Tina

Plot

In ''A Man's Gotta Do'', Eddy (

), lives with his wife, Yvonne (Rebecca Frith), and their daughter, Chantelle (

), in a new suburb in the

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal Regions of New South Wales, region in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region. It encompas ...

part, south of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Eddy is a fisherman by day, but by night he works as a standover man, literally a toe-cutter. Dominic, ( Gyton Grantley), is his new offsider. Chantelle is upset because her fiancé, Rudi, a Russian air conditioning specialist, has disappeared. Did her Dad have something to do with it? The frustrated Yvonne begins flirting with Paul, the plumber, (

). Eddy encourages Dominic to read his daughter's diary thinking that's the way to get a better understanding of her needs.

Reception

The film received Mixed reviews. Australian TV show '' At the Movies'' gave it three and a half stars. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "Mixed or Average" reviews. The Village voice giving it 30/100.

Awards

The film wasn't nominated for many awards but did win the only award it was nominated for, a Golden Zenith for the Best film from

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

at the

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.Australian comedy films 2004 films 2004 comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s Australian films English-language comedy films {{2000s-Australia-film-stub