Director: Alan White 
Screenplay: John Armstrong and Steve Wright 
Producers: Rachel Dixon and Marian Macgowan 
Starring: Bryan Brown, Tom Long, Claudia Karvan, Jason Clarke, Brian Meegan, Bob Baines, Kim Knuckey, Thomas Clunie, Sharin Contini, Wayne Pygram (as Mick)

SYNOPSIS:

Young and innocent Ben Madigan (Tom Long) gets a job as a personal injury assessor for a large insurance company. Stuck in “whiplash city” doing personal injury claims, Ben seeks to bring some compassion to the job. His boss, John Kreisky (Bryan Brown) seizes on this and asks Ben to participate in an experiment - nothing less than a means of skimming money from the company involving fraudulent claims supplied by his solicitor girlfriend Louise Roncoli (Claudia Karvan). Louise seduces Ben and draws him further into the crooked world of insurance scams, where his reluctance and his libido collide. (from Urban Cinefile )

REVIEWS:

The devil’s in the detail, they say, and never is it more apt - and more crucial - than in filmmaking. In this case, it’s the tone of the film that is at stake. From the start, the film’s tone is influenced (for Australian audiences at least) by Tom Long’s recent success in The Dish, where he plays a likeable, down to earth Australian bloke with a comedic persona. His face is perfect in that role; it’s a hinderance in this one, because it sets us up for an expectation that the film does not deliver. Risk is a drama, not a comedy, even though it has some amusing moments. Some of these are crammed into the opening sequences when Ben Madigan is at ‘insurance school’; together with Bryan Brown’s brittle-funny portrayal we are (mis)lead into expecting a comedic treatment of the subject. And while the premise and setting is a welcome change for Australian filmmaking, Risk also suffers from a low budget approach to a genre - the caper thriller - which demands more. Yes, we understand that the design is spartan for genuine creative reasons, it still tends to look a bit sparse and reduces the sense of place we need to be swept along. The music stings that might help propel the film more dynamically are missing, and cliché creeps in occasionally (like in the home decorating scene). Although the script could take an extra draft or two, there is much that is right with the film, too, including Claudia Karvan’s electric performance, clever editing, fine and fresh cinematography - and the basic setting of the story.   Andrew L. Urban at Urban Cinefile

From the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival (from Girlposse.com Movie Reviews) 

A marketable Australian production starring the talented Bryan Brown showing his great acting strength once again on the big screen. With Brown and his supporting co-stars, Tom Long and Claudia Karvan we see a fantastic trio who really gel on the screen with sexual chemistry and devious plotting. 

Brown is the aging insurance adjuster who makes Long his protégé. Karvan is the bitchy, crooked lawyer who, with Brown, suckers Long into their game. Together risks are taken, money made, and the big guys get ripped off. 

It is refreshing to see an Aussie flick that doesn’t portray an Australian as an idiot carrying a really big knife. 

Allen White is the sexy director who could be on the screen. He could also be very dateable if he were single. ;-)  Sheila, September 2000 

Risk was an entertaining movie about honor, trust, morals and scamming money from a big insurance company. Bryan Brown, Claudia Karvan and Tom Long were all perfectly cast for their roles. I couldn’t have imagined anyone different being quite as believeble. 

Long plays Ben Madigan, a fresh faced, somewhat naive young man who truly believes that by working at an insurance company as a claims adjuster he can help people. Kreisky (Bryan Brown) is Ben’s boss and mentor. Slowly Ben is pulled into a corrupt world by Kreisky and Kreisky’s girlfriend, Louise (Claudia Karvan.) Although Ben is doing nothing illegal himself, he’s a major part of the scheme concocted by Louise and Kreisky to bilk the insurance company out of thousands of dollars. Louis seduces Ben in attempt to keep him happy, and therefore compliant. 

Things begin to go awry as the stakes are set even higher. Ben is faced with some harsh truths about the people around him as well as himself. Was it all worth the risk?    Trixie, September 2000 

OTHER REVIEWS:

Toeing the Line: Risk  by Bill Craske in Senses of Cinema
Film:Risk  by Peter Thompson in MSNNine Film Reviews
Risk  by Nikki Tranter  at PopMatters
Risk at eFilmCritics.com
Risk DVD by Almar Haflidason at BBC Films