Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Kreutzer kommt" is a German television movie from 2010, so it had its 5th anniversary last year. The director is Richard Huber and the writer is Christian Jeltsch. Both have worked a lot for German television and this one here is among their most known works. Lets be honest here: The German television channel ProSieben is not exactly known for producing films (in terms of quality and quantity) like ARD and ZDF for example, but this one here is the rare occasion where they did. The lead actor is Christoph Maria Herbst (also very known through the ProSieben show "Stromberg") and the supporting cast includes a handful somewhat famous actors like Thomass, Trepte and Avalon. These are the ones I am familiar with.This is a film that runs for slightly over 90 minutes and has Detective Kreutzer investigate the murder of a night club singer. Herbst clearly channels Dr. House and Sherlock Holmes in his approach here. And I also felt that I occasionally (in terms of his physical acting) saw a parallel to Vincent D'Onofrio's Bobby Goren from "Criminal Intent", but that may be just subjective, because I am a big fan of his. But back to this one here. I believe Herbst elevated the material here. It would have been a worse watch with most other (German) actors. But that does not mean it was a good watch. The main problem here was the script. Kreutzer's routine of apparently sucking up to everybody and then attacking them verbally gets repetitive at some point. Also, it's ridiculous how the film offers us pretty much one new suspect every five (or ten) minutes. There is no real fun in guessing who did it and the characters are maybe unique, but also stereotypical and unrealistic. There are also moments when this film tries to be a lot more relevant and smart than it actually is, for example during the Africa reference. All in all, Herbst alone was not enough save this one. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended. I hope the sequel is superior.
