australian television information archive

Last Man Standing

What do men want? We’re used to movies and television shows depicting women who are interested in finding a man to call their own.

Last Man Standing takes a look at the lovelorn single from the male point of view.

It tells the story of three Aussie blokes stumbling about in the long paddock that lies between adolescence and adulthood, looking for love and self-understanding, but willing to settle for a beer or three if these are not forthcoming.

When the series opens Adam (Rodger Corser), its protagonist and narrator, is hung over, having recently broken up with his girlfriend of five years, the curiously prim and humourless Lou.

He and Lou are giving a reading at a wedding and he arrives just in time.

There we become better acquainted with Adam’s best mates, Cameron (Matt Passmore) and Bruno (Travis McMahon)—also single and checking out the talent—and Cameron’s ex-wife, Zoe (Miriama Smith), who has flown in from New Zealand for the occasion and who has decided to return to Melbourne.

They all occupy an inner-Melbourne milieu that has become recognisable television territory, and the action occasionally stops so that Adam can reflect on events in what has become, from other programs, a familiar narrative device.

But Last Man Standing does have the potential to break new ground if it allows itself to meander away from the soapie set-up of episode one.

The characters are likeable but it would be a shame if the questions of whether Zoe and Cameron get back together, say, or whether Adam has a chance with her, are the only ones it explores.

It might be interesting to know, for example, why these men are dodging the responsibilities of manhood, or even what they imagine being a grown-up entails.

It is not unusual to come across a bunch of boys who drink too much but how often do we have the chance to find out what it is, exactly, they think they are doing?

By Katherine Kizilos
June 02, 2005
Sydney Morning Herald