I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.
... View MoreI didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
... View MoreThis is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.
... View MoreThe thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
... View MoreGreat movie! The characters are funny, like a comedy should be at its best. The best German actors, straight-to-the-point dialogues, beautiful pictures. Hei, a German comedy at this international cinema level, you do not find that often! I've put Hartmann's heart in my heart, with all their spleens and weaknesses, who still hold together when it matters. What else do you want? That the comedy uses a serious refugee fate as a background for the family development, is wonderful. This is the way life is, everyone lives as best he can, and, at best, tries to help others. Simon Verhoeven wrote the script BEFORE the great wave of refugees came to Germany. He has taken a current situation as a hanger for typical family entertainment. And this has turned into a wonderful film that has thrilled over 3 million viewers.
... View MoreAll over the (western) world, there is one big issue that all have in common. It's a tragedy and it's tough for most people to wrap their head around some of the facts. We don't know what people really go through. Now some will take advantage of the system. But it's wrong to paint them all the same way.This movie takes certain clichés and makes fun of them. Most of the jokes are not laugh out loud funny though. It tries to be sophisticated about certain things and it does succeed most of the time. It's really a testament to script writing and to the fact that there is good writing in Germany, which leads to good movies. Some things are predictable of course, but it's still suspenseful until the end - and funny of course
... View MoreObviously any movie dealing with the Refugee Crisis is measured against a serious backdrop of political and human implications The Movie deals with this nicely and is one of the clearly better German comedies as they come. Set in Munich against the backdrop of a well being Upperclass family with some cracks in their world and the entry of a different side to their world with Refugees, gone wild old hippies, German alt rights and more when the Lady of the house for a mix of reasons decides to invite an refugee to their house. This sets in motion quite a nice series of events bringing the family back into shape and resolving issues. All roles well cast with top notch German Leads and excellent side parts, mainly Uwe Ochsenknecht (35 years removed from the Boat) as a beauty surgeon and Ulrike Kriener as a progressive teacher gone wild. Enjoy it for what it is and take away to think on your terms about what the refugee crisis means. My Wife ? Spot her in the Meeting Room in Shanghai (actually Munich BMW World) as a Chinese M&A Lawyer.
... View MoreI have to admit that I first had reservations regarding this movie. Since the refugee situation in Germany is omnipresent in the media and the public discussion very polarized, one could already even call it intoxicated, I couldn't imagine how a subject like this could be turned into a comedy.But Simon did an excellent job: he hired a bunch of very well known German actors, most of them actually from Munich, and portrayed the wealthy German society as a whole with the Hartmann family and movie's characters impersonating all the different political opinions and individual personalities. Controversional dinner discussions, resentments in all directions, accidents of all kind are leading to the most hilarious situations Politically Simon achieved to place the movie leisurely at the opinional center of the Germany society – a center that unfortunetely gets more and more eroded by the centrifugal forces of a polarized dicussion.Extremely recommended because it's an extremely good comedy!
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