The Night We Called It a Day is a fun little Australian flick that benefits greatly from some very charismatic performances.

Based on a true story, this film takes us back to 1974 when Frank Sinatra (played by a magnetic Dennis Hopper) agreed to play a mini-tour of dates in Australia. After finally persuading Sinatra and his crew to make the shlep down under, a small-time concert promoter named Rod Blue (an engaging Joel Edgerton) must find a way to diffuse a horrible situation. It seems that while arriving at the airport a reporter fired off a question that raised the hackle of Old Blue Eyes to which Sinatra responded with few snide bon mots that snowballed into a big mess for everybody.

Before long, the locals wage a sort of war against Sinatra, demanding an apology for his off-the-cuff little stab at their fellow countryman, but Frank being the Chairman of the Board, doesn't do apologies, Frank does ballads, if Frank gets paid well to do Ballads.

The Night We Called it a Day is extremely light on it's feet and very lighthearted in it's execution. It isn't meant to be taken as the ultimate bio-pic, nor is it particularly dramatic. If anything it's played as a fluffy good time with romantic comedy underpinings.

Joel Edgerton (who you may remember as Owen Lars in the last two Star Wars films) is terrifically entertaining as the smooth talking Blue, and I really enjoyed his sweet little moments with love interest Audrey Appleby (played by the cute Rose Byrne). Yes, we've seen similar such romantic scenarios in countless other movies, but it was touching nonetheless.

When I heard that Dennis Hopper was playing Sinatra, I have to admit,I couldn't see that at all. Don't get me wrong, the guy's a tremendous actor, Frank "Booth" yes - Frank Sinatra? It was hard for me to envision that working. Happily, it does.

Hopper burns up the screen. While he certainly doesn't bear a strong facial resemblance to old blue eyes, he does bring to life his mannerisms and overall spirit. Not unlike the way Anthony Hopkins managed to so effectively embody "Tricky Dick" in Oliver Stone's Nixon. He's charismatic and very playful in the role, particulalrly in the scenes when he becomes angry and wants to test the extent of his power. Of course, as enraged as he might become, he always plays Frank as an old softy at heart. And his scenes with a very good Melanie Griffith are among my favorite moments of the film.

Finally, we have the music. Ahhh--the music. I know plenty of people whom--dare I say this--can't stand Sinatra? They're dead wrong - he's without a doubt among the very, very finest song-stylists to ever set foot behind a microphone. And Hopper does a terrific job of getting this point across in his live performance scenes.

In all honesty The Night We Called it a Day is a film that would probably play better as a TV movie, but it was nice and breezy and a good enough little ode to one of history's weird little footnotes.