Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Verrückt nach Fixi" or just "Fixi" (the play on words fits nicely with the movie's quality, haha very funny NOT) is a German German-language film from last year (2016) that was directed by Mike Marzuk and he is also among the writers contributing here. If you take a look at his body of work, there is not really any reason for euphoria to be honest and the quality eventually is as expected for this film here. It runs slightly over 1.5 hours and the lead actor is Jascha Rust, a relatively young German actor whose body of work (soap operas) is even way worse than Marzuk's, or basically the television equivalent. So yeah, in accordance with this, Rust was definitely one of the biggest weaknesses of this film. This is the story of a young German man, still a virgin, who gets gifted a sex doll as a joke, but the next morning she is suddenly a real person. And a really stunning one as well. I think Lisa Tomaschewsky doesn't do too badly with what she is given and she makes the character work somehow, especially in terms of the stale movements as a core message of the plot is that she actually is really still a doll.Yeah well, there are moments when the film really isn't that bad I will admit. But sadly, like I wrote in the title, it gets worse and worse as it goes on. Not only is Rust just no lead actor material, but the writing also goes south quickly. The generic conflict with his best friend is exactly what I just said: generic and uninspired and it's been done in so many films and rarely worse. All just for the sake of it. And besides, the main character's transformation just never feels real or authentic which is the consequence of several people messing up, not just Rush. Anyway, about the best friend character: He is still tolerable, the actor I mean Roland Schreglmann. He manages that sad face, he is basically a mix of Axel Stein and Samwise Gangee, just a contemporary version I guess. And you can't really blame him for the outcome here. The way everything is fixed at the end it is once again very rushed and when the film loses itself in the explosion of the doll for example towards the end, you basically know that the movie has hit rock bottom in its attempts to be convincing, entertaining and memorable and funny of course, but it manages no such things. The cast isn't helping at all, but you knew that probably by yourself the moment you saw the likes of Ruby O. Fee playing supporting characters. And the other names you probably have never heard of before (just like the lead actor), even if you are a German film buff. Only reason it still gets two stars out of five is because the first 30-40 minutes weren't as much of a failure as the rest. Cannot give it a thumbs-up though by any means. Go home Constantin Film. Nobody needs your crap here in Germany anymore. Raging feminists should cheer up though. It is not a sexist film, just a bad one.
