No More Mr. Nice Guy (1993)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

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’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

"Wir können auch anders..." or "No More Mr. Nice Guy" or "Unternehmen Viktor" is a German 90-minute comedy from 1993, so this one is already almost 25 years old. The director is Detlev Buck, one of Germany's most successful filmmakers and he also worked on the script, namely on adapting the book by Ernst Kahl. Kahl is also not entirely unknown as he worked on the famous pretty good partially animated movie "Werner Beinhart". But back to this one here. you can probably call kit a road movie and it is (mostly) a comedy. The cast includes Joachim Król, Horst Krause and Sophie Rois and all 3 are still quite successful today, even if they may have been more famous a couple years ago, especially Król and Krause. I like other stuff I have seen from Buck, but this one here did not impress me that much. I also like him as an actor, but sadly in this one he only has a small cameo. As for Król and Krause, they aren't bad and have solid chemistry. But I am quite a fan of Krause and the fact that I only call him decent may also imply that others will be even more underwhelmed. But Konstantin Kotljarov, who plays one of the biggest characters as well left me kinda unimpressed and I am not too surprised that he did not return to film acting afterward. And my perception of Sophie Rois is that I am not a fan at all and it's difficult for me to like a film where she plays the biggest female part that involved romance of course too. So basically the other way around as I said with Krause. It's all subjective in this case. As for the plot, it's mostly comedy, but there are dramatic moments too, which is Buck's approach all the time. And there are moments when the film works and when it was a solid watch. Buck was 30 when he made this one and it was still relatively early in his career. But he was also already somewhat experienced, not just through short films. I would say Buck showed promising talent at times, but was still quite a while away from his peak. Overall, I give this film a thumbs-down and I don't recommend checking it out. It is not a failure and there aren't any really disastrous components, but it's also far from being good enough for me to suggest you to check it out.

To disprove the old canard that Germans have no sense of humour, I highly recommend this oddball pleasure. A picaresque plot acts largely as an excuse for deadpan, often hilarious humour. And the leading performances are a delight. Perhaps a Wessi take on the strange Ossis, but a loving one. Sort of Thelma and Louise with a happy ending, (and two dumb men, rather than two sassy women...), and almost equally delectable. The plot, what there is of it, rather loses steam by the end, but by then you're too charmed to worry overmuch. And as this film was the catalyst that sparked off my love affair with the NE of Germany, I can forgive it its occasional longueurs.See it and reassess your prejudices about the Germans.

Despite minor weaknesses in the script the whole film is very funny. This is mostly due to Joachim Król's brilliantly persuasive acting. The story is somehow constructed around the obscurities of life in the east of Germany just after the reunification. So, the film can be seen as a historical snapshot of this almost forgotten time. Thus, it is a classic already.

A road movie in germany? Only possible when the guys cannot read, the other ones take a map and arrive within hours. This is not the only interestic idea in this movie. Two brothers on their way to their (believed golden) inheritance in eastern germany. An russian red army deserter first comes to kidnap them and the car, but soon becomes helpful on their way towards the wild east. On their way they meet strange guys who cannot swim and make bad deals for good money, but later in the end, after some more or less accidently killed people, a great escape from german police with stolen cars and horses, you find the end unspectacular but sufficient, one cannot imagine a end which fits better to that movie, but the real entertainment is the presented art of humour in some weird and crazy scenes and dialogues. For friends of humour beyond the mainstream a must see!