Weddings, christenings and funerals

Could've been worse Could've been even better

"Nunti, botezuri, inmormantari" is a 2022 romanian comedy movie starring Serban Pavlu, Gheorghe Ifrim and Anca Sigartau. Directed by Alexandru Lustig and written by Adrian Lustig.

The movie tells the story of Cosmin Berinde (S erban Pavlu), who bought a land in 2007, so he can build some houses and sells them for 1.000.000 Euro. But even near him there's a loud restaurant for rent, he fights back to reach his goal,even if it messes up his entire life.

The conflict is intense, characthers are at war and each and one of them fights back in ways that you'll never have seen coming. Unfortunately the main characther, while relatable, can often become annoying and unlikeable, not letting the audience relate to his ideas

The jokes are funny and the story is overall good, but the good moments are few and far between. The movie is long, way too long. The script does not profit from it's lengthy runtime, many scenes feelling either stale or just plain unnecessary. And it's a shame, 'cause the script has it's moment: the movie can and knows how to be entertaining. And even the good stuff can become repetitive or some scenes/plot points just fade away cause nothing really happens in some scenes

I liked this movie: the director did a good job to ilustrated this tale into a fun colorful way and the humor can be good, but the movie suffers from a dry story with good elements that aren't expended enough on.

(Seen on Netflix, in my house with another person)

Plot (spoiler free): Our protagonist, Cosmin Berinde (Serban Pavlu) bought a land at country side, planning to invest into building houses on it, expecting a profit of 1 million euro. He did not know about the neighboring club that organizes loud events, such as weddings and christenings. After asking nicely to turn the music down, Cosmin was rejected and started a music "war" to destroy the club's business. This is the intro of the movie... the rest is up to you to watch what happens.

Comedy: The whole movie is intended to be a comedy. Types present in this movie: situation comedy (a lot), verbal comedy (a lot), name comedy (I'll describe below) and others.

Name comedy comes from a few characters:

• Mr. Barbat (in Romanian, "barbat" = "man") - it produces confusion such as:

♦ (on phone) "Hello! Talking to Barbat on phone." ... (the other side) "Yes, hello... another man (barbat) here".

♦ "A song dedication to the manliest man alive ... To Mr. Barbat!" (Mr. Man)

• the priest named Mantuiala. In Romanian, "a mantui" = "to save" (in a religious way), but "de mantuiala" = "botched". From his name, we understand the pseudo work that the priest does.

Unfortunately, some verbal comedy has sense only in Romanian.

The songs chosen by Cosmin for his "war" has lots of meanings in Romanian culture. Such as (very minor spoilers):

• The first artist he chose is Jean de la Craiova (Jean from Craiova, a city). This artist discography is mainly made from "manele", a song genre that is mostly played at parties, but often considered a bad taste in music by high standards people.

• The second band he chose is Parazitii (Parasites), a rap band. It is well known here, as they often use curse words in their songs. Their music is not well heard in this movie (to don't make it a 15+ film), but Romanians know them well enough to know what they are singing about.

Overall, it is a very good comedy with good actors. Good enough to watch in a weekend to sit back and relax. Even better if you have a person next to you to discuss the little details that they use along the movie.

Everytime I watch any of these contemporary Romanian "films", I can say the same odd thing: describing the plot to somebody that never saw it makes them think this is incredible comedy material... but when actually watching it... you know... yuk!!!

I mean don't get me wrong, this is not as bad as "Teambuilding" (the worst piece of film ever created), its just trash couch material for the main and only purpose - KILL TIME!

It seems that the script was written by a 10 year old, and the director is something like 7.

And of course... Serban Pavlu (an otherwize incredible actor)... should fire his agent!

I wonder what bet had Serban Pavlu lost to have to take this role. He is a good actor and trying to imitate Rowan Atkinson doesn't suit him well.

In the attempt to be funny some scenes get to be borderline cringey, super childish and plain embarrassing. The script might have been original in its initial form, but after the execution it just feels as yet another retake of the same old quarrel between two noisy neighbors. The second half gets worse, and the film was already draining and feeling like it is way longer than it should be.

I could imagine some people enjoying it though. But not many though.

The plot is just infantile and hard to believe. None of the characters are likeable. I cannot like the party pooper money hungry character played by Serban Pavlu and I can't like his tacky, unfunny, gross neighbours as well, but I kinda feal for the people whose parties are ruined. Nevertheless, the whole movie seems like a contest for the most cringey movie scene ever. The jokes are the kind your embarassing uncle would make when drunk at a Christmas dinner. Just old and cringey.

The only question remains why do good actors feel the need to deliver this kind of dirt?

Spare yourselves 2 hrs of your lives and skip this one. Really.