Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Machen wir's auf Finnisch" is a German television movie from 2008, so this one has its 10th anniversary this year, and like most of the other German small screen releases it runs for pretty much exactly 90 minutes. The director is Marco Petry who is known mostly for his stupid German teenager comdies like "Schule" and this one here is not the only time he collaborated with writer Axel Staeck. The main character is played by Jasmin Schwiers and while she may be pretty attractive physically, I don't think she is a great actress by any means and this shows here too. Admittedly, the supporting players, also including some names German film buffs will recognize, aren't really any better. It's tough to decide what is worse here, the comedy or the more dramatic moments. Almost none of it works. There is a moment here and there when I was tempted to give this one at least 2 stars out of 5, but eventually the weak moments are just too. Realism is non-existent in here, the characters are written in such shallow superficial ways that you can simply not relate to them or like them, even if you could see they were intended as likable. And oh so cool and fresh of course. Due to bad acting and bad writing, they are neither eventually. Of course, the film is also incredibly predictable in terms of the romance and music career components. Sure the male love interest is a womanizer early on with how he talks, but yeah Schwiers is so special she turns him into somebody else completely. And as for the music: I am sure people who still watch stuff like DSDS these days will enjoy the transformation and final song because it really is the most generic unpersonal form of pop music and they should be ashamed for selling us this as quality. Don't fall for them. Don't fall for this film and open your eyes to see it is completely void of talent. Or better keep your eyes shut and don't watch this mess. I give it a huge thumbs-down and recommend to keep your distance and watch something else instead. The title basically describes the quality you can(not) expect here very accurately.
