Dreadfully Boring

Better Late Then Never

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is the eight and last movie of the Israeli "Lemon Popsicle" series. There is another one much later, but it does not have the original actors or only in cameos, so I will not really count it. It runs for 85 minutes roughly and is longer than films 6 and 7. The language is German again according to IMDb, although I am not too sure about that. There was certainly some dubbing done. This is the only film where Noy and Sagall are sort of the central characters and Katzur is only a supporting player for the most part. No romance story for him. The writer and director is Reinhard Schwabenitzky, also the boyfriend or spouse of the female lead actress in here. That would be Elfi Eschke and she has acted in many more German movies and television series in the decades after this film. The idea for this movie here comes from lead actor Zachi Noy himself, his only writing credit.The drama outside the relationships is this time about a biker gang who blackmails our heroes and there was a pretty cringeworthy (alleged) suicide scene near the end. It was so bad and they tried to make it look so dramatic that it was, in fact, really funny. Still, I liked the ending for Hughie. Finally he gets a girl too and it's also a great way to close the franchise with a beautiful song choice as well. The music is the highlight in general for these films. Another famous song included in this final movie was "Blue Velvet". You should not expect any great character development obviously in the eight film of this series, but if you take it for what it is, you can enjoy it occasionally. One example would be the scene where Bobby trolls Hughie and then shows up to save a girl from Hughie when he acts as if Hughie is some strange weirdo who molests women. That scene was truly hilarious. But guess who has the last laugh in the end. oh well, I already told you before.

Highly underrated last part of the Eis am Stiel series. For the first time, it feels like watching a professional film. Benny and his friends keep their pants unzipped for a change, and like to open a beach bar. This change of formula might be annoying for die-hard fans, but at least it creates space for something called a 'story line'. The focus is mostly on the Johnny character, which was a good decision as Zachi Noy is clearly the best actor of the three. A welcome surprise after the horrible parts before.By the way, the actors in real life are completely disgusted / traumatized by the Eis am Stiel films and deeply regret playing in them, as they felt exploited by the producers. Oh well. You can read all juicy details at the Eis am Stiel fan site (in German): http://kasi69.ka.funpic.de/eis-am-stiel-domizil/index-hauptseite.htm

In the last entry in the 'Popsicle' series we have somewhat of a conflict, namely a slight return to form but a compromise of content. The Popsicle series has had many twists and turns during it's reign, it started out as a raunchy Iserali 'American Graffiti' homage, branching into a series of entertaining, if dopey, sex comedies and then, from Episode 6 onwards, a shameless cash-in on it's former glory, complete with bored cast members and non-existent stories. So it ends as bizarrely as it started, as a German teen movie. Raunchy content is more-or-less ditched in favour of a more family friendly approach, keeping in line with the TV edits of the previous movies very popular on German television. The boys are back, older but not much wiser, with yet another name change (do the translators even watch previous entries??) this time aspiring to open a Hawiaan-style bar with a little help from a rich investor. The key to his help is the rich investor's daughter who has long harboured a crush on bad boy Bobby (Momo) who has no interest in romancing a geeky accident prone nerd to gain the necessary cash to make Hughie/Yuhadle/Johnny's (!!) dream a reality. Interestingly it develops that Zachi Noy's multi-named character is the love-lorn one here replacing Benzi's usual character-ark and in the process giving him little to do. Bobby or Momo has a nice change of pace exhibiting a possible softer side but proving by the final reel that the new writers keep Bobby in check. To say it's flawed is an understatement, it's certainly nowhere near as interesting as the first entry but thankfully seems like 'Gone With The Wind' compared to the previous one! This time the German producers have paid for proper versions of GOOD songs from the era and the new writers at least have bothered with a thread of story (although typically twee and easy) and took the characters (bar poor Benzi) is some new directions. Shame they forget to up the laughs and give the Popsicle fans some scantily clad babes in the process. At least it's a fitting end to this branch of the series, if a watered down one.