Instant Favorite.

Good movie but grossly overrated

Good concept, poorly executed.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

But it is hard going. Ultimately I'm glad I stayed with it but it tests your patience to the limit at times. It's not a 1 rating like some reviewers are saying. But it's certainly not a 10 either. It's far too long to enable it to get anywhere that kind of rating. There seems to be so many meaningless scenes that could have been trimmed. There are certain moments that for me were laugh out loud. Ines played by Sandra Huller is fantastic. It's made me want to see more of her work. Talk of an Hollywood remake on here. I can only assume it will be a very very different film. There is no way ever a scene for scene remake would make it out of Hollywood. Give the original a go first, it's different!!

Initially I didn't know what to make of this movie and while billed as a comedy, there really isn't much that I found laugh out load funny about it until the last third of the movie. There are lots of awkward moments, that some could find funny, but others will not like them.Most will find this very depressing and will turn it off after the first 60 minutes or so, I nearly did, but thankfully I kept watching and really enjoyed the last third of the movie.As a father I can speak from experience when I say fathers will do anything to make their children happy and this shows through in this movie. I felt the father's whole misguided aim was to connect with his daughter and try to cheer her up. He can see she is very unhappy with her life. He fails most of the time, but continues to try throughout the movie with sometimes interesting and funny results.Overall I found this quite a deep, thoughtful and very German movie. Watch lots of German movies and you will know what I mean.I would be very hesitant to watch it twice.

A near-three hour German comedy that was always destined for some critical attention, given how unusual the setup and how good the performances.Sandra Huller, so good in her role as the business-like emotionally-detached daughter, anxiously reacting to the sudden unannounced appearance of her father into her life, following the death of his beloved dog at the start of the film, seeking to restore their bond gone adrift - both characters actually seem rather lonely in themselves.Simonischeck's father figure, and his alter-ego (the titular Toni) is quite the weapons-grade buffoon (thanks for that phrase, Empire), yet errs on the hilarious over irritating and never strays into the implausible.There are a couple of scenes so awkward it's hard to watch (one of those does end on an emotional punch at least), but in general the script balances itself well between awkwardness, laugh-out-loud funny and genuine sadness without being mawkish or folding into cliche.Definitely a slow burner, got to have some patience for the running time, and a bit of a mood piece but I found this surprisingly affecting and recalled several moments in the film days after seeing it. Recommended for those willing to look outside the box a bit.

I feel at a loss when it comes to the love for beloved Oscar nominated German dramedy Toni Erdmann.I've tried to understand why this excessive, criminally long and utterly weird (not funny) film, that at its core tells a rather generic and ordinary story of a father and his daughter has been so blatantly fawned over by many a top critic but I just can't see or understand why Maren Ade's tale has become the so-called classic it's been labelled with.Over 160 minutes of runtime we the audience get the "privilege" of following around the odd Winfried Conradi whose relationship with his business driven daughter Ines leads him to take up a persona of Toni Erdmann, a self-professed life coach that starts to follow Ines around to become a part of her working life. It's a story with potential but told as dryly and blandly as Ade tells it, this ends up being a rare foreign film where you just can't wait to see a more tightly structured and funny Hollywood remake.There's nothing wrong with Peter Simonischek or Sandra Hüller's central performances as father and daughter duo Winfried and Ines and the two actors are both game to partake in some odd scenarios, from cupcake antics, odd birthday parties to awkward nights out with the girls, but Toni Erdmann has surely hoodwinked people into thinking strange and bizarre is in fact genius at work and while some who like their films cut from the bizarre corner of filmmaking will lap up Toni Erdmann's fondness for the odd, there will be other viewers such as me you don't buy into what Erdmann is selling us.It will be interesting to see how Hollywood tackles the stories untypical nature, but there's enough love flowing for the film around the place that acting legend Jack Nicholson has shunned his retirement plans to appear in the remake as the titular Erdmann while Girls superstar Lena Denham is attached to help work on the script, showcasing that Erdmann has its large portion of fans and few detractors.Final Say – Quite clearly Toni Erdmann wasn't for me and I understand that I will be one of only a few who didn't find this slow, charmless and cold experience that's trying to be an odd yet touching tale of a father and daughter, a sight for sore eyes.For those that get on board the journey of Winfried and his quest to reconnect to his daughter, Toni Erdman will be near 3 hours' worth of quality dramatics with laugh out loud oddness, for the other bewildered few, Toni Erdman is one of last year's most unduly praised experiences.1 cupcake out of 5