The sinister influence of TV is exposed (yet again), this time from a refreshing, new European perspective, in a film written and directed with a flair for mild black comedy. The plot follows two young video hustlers (named, oddly for Germans, Rico and Banana), one of whom accepts a challenge to set the world's record for non-stop television watching: 240 hours (a cake-walk for today's generation of cyber-heads and internet junkies). But what begins as a harmless promotional stunt soon develops into an all-consuming obsession, and after several days in front of the boob tube Rico soon realizes that losing his mind is the least of his worries. The shift to science fiction near the film's conclusion isn't entirely successful, but overall it's a lively (if modest) satire of our couch potato culture.
