Dikkenek (2006)

The Worst Film Ever

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This is an absolute gem in Belgium. I don't know if it will totally work for somebody outside of Belgium because it has some typical language and expressions only used by Belgians but for us it is really fun to watch. My wife is American but lived in Belgium for thirteen years and with English subtitles she could easily follow the movie and understood almost all the expressions. But that's because she lived here. Even after all those years Dikkenek came out in the theaters a lot of my friends still use some of the classic phrases out of Dikkenek, and almost everybody immediately knows it's from the movie. François Damiens better known as François l'Embrouille with his sketches on Youtube proves again he is a really good comedian. His mimics can only be done by him. Jean-Luc Couchard plays also a very good role in Dikkenek, with his typical arrogant know-it-all bully character from Brussels. To me those two are the absolute top in Dikkenek. The rest of the cast is also good so there is not much bad to say about this movie. Maybe the story is a bit simple, but it is supposed to be a parody on the typical characters from Brussels so the story doesn't really matter. I could watch this movie over and over again, it always makes me laugh.

Dikkenek is a somewhat chaotic Belgian comedy that more than makes up for the wafer-thin storyline by its deliciously politically incorrect and slightly absurd humor. The movie is carried by the characters: colourful caricatures of some of the archetypes of Belgian society. The acting is outstanding, and the dialogues are often quite simply hilarious. I am not sure to what extent it is possible to appreciate this movie if you are not a native (or at least excellent) French-speaker (and even if so: having lived in Belgium for at least a while would probably still make a lot of difference). If you want your movies to make sense, then better to stay away. But if you like the kind of movies that Benoît Poelvoorde has become famous for (C'est arrivé près de chez vous, Les convoyeurs attendent), then you will love this one (even though Poelvoorde does not appear in it himself). All in all: probably 7/10 for non-Belgians, 8/10 for Belgians, and 9/10 for expatriated Belgians who sometimes miss the characteristic Belgian sense of humor (like myself).

For those who enjoyed "C'est arrivé près de chez vous", "Dikkenek" is a must see. It's made up of the same surrealist energy, encouraging to love the worst in humankind. While one can easily be disgusted by the character Jean-CLaude, by his vulgar language, by the smell of the pigs he slaughters following him, he tends to become sort of attractive by his repulsion. This enables him to convince beautiful Natacha of posing for nude pictures. In "C'est arrivé..." the serial killer played by Benoit Poelvoorde has the same effect, inspired by poetry in between murders, rapes and body tossing. In "Dikkenek", both men and women play tough persons with short fuse Stef and police boss Laurence. She is played by Florence Foresti, a great French stand-up artist, master of the improv. Jeremie Renier, who played in the great film made by the Dardenne brothers "L'Enfant", serves as an original link in the movie. Check out the movie's website where you'll here some of the great lines.

Though this is a Belgian-French production, Dikkenek is full of "belgitude" (belgianness) from beginning to end, starting from the title, which literally means "big neck" and describes an arrogant person full of him/j herself.It is somewhat reminiscent of Belgian cult movie "C'est arrivé près de chez vous", because of its dialogues which are likely to become known by everyone.Full of Belgian cultural references and humor, it might seem absurd to some, especially since the plot is a little chaotic. But Dikkenek gives a merciless picture of Belgian society. It's simply hilarious!The acting is very good and very spontaneous. It feels real!