The Dish

Another classic Australian comedy.
The Dish tells the story of the man landing on the moon in 1969, with a primary focus on the major role played by the tiny Australian country town of Parkes. It stars Sam Neill in the title role of Cliff Buxton, who is one of three engineers/scientists working in the radio telescope station.

The small team, with the help of NASA representative Al Burnett (Patrick Warburton), are tasked with tracking Apollo 11 and receiving signals in the Southern Hermisphere. They have to deal with a range of problems that come up in the lead up to the landing, the most major being a power outage that wiped the computer's memory.
I approached the film as a sappy, drama type film but it is anything but. The crisp Aussie humour is on full display, with terrific one-liners Ross Mitchell (Kevin Harrington) and Glen Latham (Tom Long). The story is packaged brilliantly, and the vast array of personalities in Parkes allows for comical exchanges throughout the whole film.
It is a must-see. 

The Dish: 101 minutes (2000)