Matar é Meu Negócio, Querida

It's always great to see people having fun making movies. If cast and crew have a great time, they typically produce either of two kinds of movie. Most are ends in themselves, made only for the sake of the making. But some manage to share the fun, leaving the audience amused and inspired. This is a movie of the second kind. I promise you will walk out with a smile on your face. It's thoroughly enjoyable, all the way from the opening credits to the bloopers. The story revolves around a secretive author's much-anticipated mafia book, but the plot is really beside the point. It is merely the pretext for a parade of skits and sketches that are genuinely funny, well-timed, lovingly staged and set to a fool-proof rat pack soundtrack. Much is borrowed from the masters of the genre, screwball stars like Peter Sellers, Louis De Funès and Didi Hallervorden. But it's all done with wit and panache and style. Sebastian Niemann directs a charming cast, many with a stand-up comedy background. Lovely Nora Tschirner, stuck in the corner of a love triangle that involves her boss and a contract killer, will totally break your heart in the part of the clumsy Cinderella. She is also great acting drunk. Fine performance by Janek Rieke in his trademark part of the lovable loser - ever a good friend, never the groom. Guest appearance by the eminent Bud Spencer as a blind barfly. Too bad his friend the bishop never shows during the furious showdown shoot-out.