Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
"Mutter muss weg" is a German small screen release from 2012, so this (sligthly under) 90-minute movie has its 5th anniversary this year. The director is Edward Berger and I quite like his more recent film "Jack". Marc Terjung is the writer and I must admit I am not familiar with this name, even if I see some familiar works checking out his profile page. Anyway, the center of this film is of course Bastain Pastewka's character and he plays a man (not so) eager to kill his own mother. The plot here on IMDb really only describes pretty much the first 15-20 minutes, but there is a whole lot more to this movie. Or is there really? I must say the film was at its best very early on. But it got weaker and weaker the longer it went. Be it the inclusion of pointless and boring supporting characters, some completely absurd story developments or the fact that the comedy just wasn't really funny too often, not to say almost never. And the last note is definitely a negative deal breaker as even with all the crime, drama and family references, this is a comedy film at its very core and the final plot twist turns it basically into a 100% comedy, but it also shows that they lacked the courage eventually to have the two protagonists die. So yeah, this already shows you that this is not a bold work unfortunately. Pastewka has some stuff I like quite a bit like the show I mentioned in the title of my review or also his Wixxer duology, in which by the way Judy Winter, the female lead here, appears as well. But if you think the filmmakers and writers and maybe cast did a weak job here, then really how can you blame them if this extremely forgettable movie still gets a decent deal of awards attention. Baffling and highly undeserved. My suggestion: You switch off this 1.5-hour television movie after the first 20 minutes and watch something else instead. Not recommended.
