There are some genres I like but have not really acquainted myself with. One of these is the wonderful Black Comedy – when I watched in Bruges, I was blown away by the way the story was executed. And I laughed, I really laughed. It was brilliant! So, in order to get a bit more Bildung, I watched En ganske snill mann at the Berlinale.

Giving birth on that back seat of your Mercedes

First things first: I did laugh. The story of an ex-convict trying to pick up his life after twelve years behind bars worked in all it’s absurdity: the women who all figured he must be sex-craved, the new room which was really more like a prison cell than his old one, the people blurting standardized walls of text in order to try and accept him…

It was genuinely funny. But why am I only at the third paragraph and already out of things to say? Because, even if funny, the movie was kind of forgettable. It was a Norwegian take on in Bruges, even going so far as to including a midget and three crooks. Or is this some sort of black comedy convention I know nothing about?

In All…

I reckon that’s the problem: the decent photography and great acting couldn’t save the uninspired script. Surely, you’ll laugh, but in the back of your head you’ll think you’ve all seen it somewhere before. And that’s because you have. On top of that, the better jokes get completely stretched and repeated ad neauseam. Didn’t they know that a joke is only good once?

Hey, by no means am I saying you should avoid this movie at all costs. You shouldn’t, it’s a pretty fun ride with some excellent photography in there. It’s like a slice of cake. You get at your grandmother’s. Every damn year. Only this time it speaks a different language. Still cake, though.