Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Spuzzlightyear A pretty good, though not outstanding comedy with a pretty amazing premise. A Jewish mother dies, leaving a will that will only be decided if she's given a proper Jewish burial, and if her two sons would bury the hatchet. The problem is, is that one of her sons is totally Orthodox Jewish, and the other one is definitely not. BUT WE'LL TRY! Oh right, the unorthodox guy has an important pool tournament that takes place smack in the middle of the Jewish observance of his Mom's death. Plenty of other problems raise their head, and most of it is quite funny. The script though, does lose steam about 3/4 of the way through, but this made me laugh at the right places,

MartinHafer As I stated in my summary, I can't understand how negative some of the reviews are for this film. While I strongly agree that it is not side-splitting funny, it works very well as a light comedy--a comedy that has some important things to say about family.The central character in this film is a guy named Jackie Zucker. He is an ex-sports announcer from East Germany and now that the Wall has fallen and he's no longer famous, he's a bit of a weasel. Much of his time is spent gambling, making promises to be a better person and then ignoring his family. He's also very deeply in debt and is about to lose everything. His only chance, he thinks, is to win a huge pool tournament--giving him money to pay off everyone and get his life back on track. But since he's alienated his wife and grown children, it won't be easy to convince them to stake him in the tournament.Then, quite inconveniently, just before the competition begins, his mother dies. She was apparently a religious Jew as was her other son, while Jackie was a communist party man and atheist (or at best, an agnostic). In her will, she promises to split her inheritance between her two sons IF they give her a proper Jewish funeral AND bury the hatchet. Considering that the two men haven't spoken in forty years and are as different from each other as possible, this is no small order. Plus, a proper Jewish funeral includes sitting 'shiva'---a one week mourning process that coincides with the pool tournament--a week when you are not allowed to do anything!! How Jackie conspires to cheat--by seeming to observe shiva and sneak away to the pool tournament is rather funny. However, the movie, while funny, is far less a comedy and far more a film about alienation and reconciliation. Seeing these two proud but exceptionally flawed men and their families work through all this actually is rather charming and interesting. A very good film--just don't get your heart set on it being a laugh out loud comedy.PS--A note to parents. There is adult content in the film and it's probably not appropriate for younger audiences--though for most teens it's probably okay if you watch it with them.

rob-1253 Lighten up. It's a movie. It's not real life. Enjoy it for what it is. I laughed out loud in the theater continually. These are romantic movie characters. My belief was definitely suspended. i recommend this movie to others constantly as one of the best I've seen this year. Reality TV is no more real than these characters. It's refreshing to finally see a German comedy rather than the pap that the American cinema churns out. There are many twists in this movie that will add levity to your day. Go Go Go And take someone with you. Germany has become so strict and gloomy in the world's eye that it's great they can cross boundaries that many are scared to talk about. C'mon we're all people. We all have beliefs. We should be able to laugh at ourselves and certainly have to ability to see the human in this mortal existence.

Thom-Peters It was praised to be a fast paced screwball comedy and the best German movie of the year, so I gave it a try, even though I've already seen some films by Dani Levy - or at least parts of them.I got what I had expected: no comedy at all, unless you think that heart attacks are funny. It's a fine example of sloppy screen writing, with an implausible plot and characters, loaded with clichés that might be true, but surely are not funny either.The most annoying character is that of Zucker's wife, played by Hannelore Elsner. She has to behave incredibly strange to keep the plot moving. For example: She doesn't know a single thing about Judaism, but by reasons most likely unknown to even herself she gets the idea to play the charade that she and her family are Jewish laws obeying Jews for her husband's family, who really are, and of the very orthodox and self-righteous variety. To make it a bit more complicated, she invites the four of them to stay at her city flat, because they arrive from Frankfurt in Berlin without having booked their hotels in advance, something no 60 years old business man, actually no grown-up German would ever do. This gives the viewer a lot to swallow, but still fails to produce any jokes.Zucker and his brother Samuel haven't seen each other for forty years, but it turns out that his daughter - now a lesbian - and Samuel's son - now a militant orthodox - were once lovers, and he's HER daughter's father. Samuel's daughter - a nympho - goes after Zucker's gay son. Is this supposed to be a somehow humorous parody of Jewish incestuous tendencies? Probably it's just a thoughtless way to add some "love action turbulence" every screwball comedy needs. And of course is also fails to produce any jokes.The praise for this movie is purely political. Therefore only people who enjoy watching movies that are supposed to be "politically important" will enjoy this one - even though "Alles auf Zucker!" quite clearly has no importance of any kind.For all the rest: Don't watch it without a "Fast forward"-option. I really missed it.