Les Dégonflés

I'm a big fan of simple brainless comedies without any other artistic merits than trying to make people laugh. I think it's good that the Norwegian movie industry is finally trying to make some lighthearted comedies. But it's sad to see that this is the best they can come up with.

This movie is pretty much a definition of everything that has ever been wrong with Norwegian cinema. It's full of unnatural and stilted dialog, predictability, bad acting, characters that are at best simple stereotypes void of any personality, and a plot full of holes that doesn't make any sense even in the alternate reality of a "crazy comedy" (to quote the director).

I don't expect much from a movie like this. If they even just managed to keep it on the same level of some of the much hated sequels of known comedies I'd be happy. But this isn't even on the same level that movies like "Police Academy 7: Mission to Moscow" or "Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd".

It's ironic to think about how the director criticized other Norwegian movies for not being "audience friendly" enough, in his speech on premiere night, and then goes onto deliver this movie that is nothing short of an insult to the audiences intelligence and love for movies.

If you want to know the plot, go elsewhere. Want to know the feeling? Continue. This movie is representing the Norwegian "Harry" culture, the guys that liked to burn rubber, drink the bootleg, and if the bootleg runs out, the bootleg basis. These guys show up in old Am Cars, like the Chevy stepside or whatever they can get their hands on. Things are so close to reality that it is scary. Not a dull moment; everything is SO easy to relate to, making it even funnier. For me the laughter started at minute 1, seeing this guy wandering trough the arrival hall in Oslo airport, pinning another guy for his misbehavior (smoking is not allowed inside public places here) and using the fuzz it brings to get trough customs with his probable over the limit tax-free shopping's. You just have to love him and his total disrespect of public officials So if you want to remember what it was like being 16-25 and have a good laughter: GO SEE IT. If not, try the Discovery channel

It worked for it's purpose. The whole theatre laughed their *beep off when I saw this last weekend. They even clapped at the end - and during two scenes in the movie. Sufficient to say, the crowd loved this, and it worked, it made people laugh and have a good time. The movie has received some bad feedback from the critics, but it still seems to be a public pleaser and it's been very popular on the theatre charts here in Norway. Looking for deep character dialogs and advanced plots.. go watch something else. If you want to bring your girl or friends or whatever to have a laugh and a feeling of x-mas closing in, this is a very good choice.