Kommissarie Späck

Most people in the world don't know abut the Beck-series. Mostly swedes and Germans(for some reason) know about it. It is a show about a cop named Martin Beck and his partner Gunvald Larsson, solving crimes in the city of Stockholm. It's a dark show, with some funny moments such as Beck's neighbour always asking Beck if he wants a drink. The problem with the show is that it often becomes unintentionally silly and stupid, and it is very, very, very repetitive. If you watch one of the films you know what's going to happen in the next one. Still, it is part of the Swedish culture, but it is very easy to joke about. Hence, this movie.

This film is about Mårten Späck and Grünvald Karlsson investigating a serial-suicide-killer who's made 6 acts of suicide the past six months, it later turns out that there is a gang of people illegally copying movies(sounds better in Swedish). The jokes are obviously inspired from films like Airplane, Naked Gun and Hot Shots, which is a really nice exchange from movies like Scary Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie or other Movie-movies. People have given it a lot of bash for being stupid and really uneven, but to tell you the truth, I don't care. I like stupid movies(not Scary Movie stupid, mind you) and most of the jokes are really funny. The Actors are great and in true Leslie Nielsen, they play their parts dead serious(most of them anyway). Some of the jokes fall flat, but they are easily forgiven.

Don't expect Mel Brooks or Airplane, but still enjoy this very funny parody.

Kommissarie Späck, Sweden's first police parody falls short on so many levels. The good news is the cast and the first act. Both the cast and the entire first act is firing on all cylinders, specifically the male main characters are more than just great, Späck's obese and goofy detective, as well as Grunwald's over-the-top tough and angry partner, make the movie worth the entrance fee. The film starts off really good with its comic elements and it does so in an amazing pace, but unfortunately the pace never gets geared down and remains on the same level of ADHDisteria for the rest of the film. After a while, say half an hour into the story, it gets tiresome, and no matter how funny the main characters are, you just don't care to crack another big smile when every joke is being force fed without reflection. That's not the bad news, the bad news is the messed up editing, at first you don't notice it, because you're laughing so hard, but once you get immunized against the humor, you soon develop a headache at how uneven the cutting's been done. I can only guess that the makers haven't done long format production before, because they seem to have emphasized too much in how it looks and very little in how it's told. It's a pity, cause there's a mountain of Swedish police series that deserve to be targeted upon by a really good long feature parody, but sadly, Späck doesn't hit that spot quite yet. It's definitely not a failure, it's just not satisfying. Maybe if they make a sequel, the makers will sort out the wrongs and rights from the first round, and make a fun film we're all longing for, I for one will keep my fingers crossed.

As this Swedish crime comedy opens we see a man being murdered in his home; he is found with a variety of kitchen implements stabbed into his chest. Leading the investigation are Inspector Mårten Späck, who is somewhat overweight, and his partner Grünvald Karlsson, who has anger issues. They have differing opinions as to what happened; the former believes it was clearly suicide while the latter suspects a gang of video pirates. Shortly after they start their investigation they are joined by Irene Snusk, a sex obsessed police woman who dresses like Lara Croft... if Miss Croft had a penchant for black leather! As they work together to uncover the truth in their own unorthodox style there will be plenty of action and plenty of laughs.

I wasn't expecting too much from this film... I certainly didn't expect it to be as laugh out loud funny as it proved to be. It is a delightful spoof of the cop genre, most notably the series 'Beck'. The jokes are fairly low-brow and often fairly violent but that doesn't count against the film; it never meant to be deep and meaningful. The laughs come thick and fast so if one doesn't amuse you odds are the next will. The cast does a solid job, managing to play it fairly straight even in the most comical of scenes, which makes it even funnier. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of crime dramas who also want a good laugh.

These comments are based on watching the film in Swedish with English subtitles.

It is tricky to create a cop comedy - crimes are seldom ennobling and people tend to regard policemen as wise and setting good patterns. However, Naked Guns became very popular - and Kommissarie Späck follows similar steps, with some help from other peculiar movies such as Hot Shots! or Scary Movie series.

To enjoy the film in question fully, you should see at least a couple of Martin Beck movies first, particularly the TV series with Peter Haber and Michael Persbrandt, among others; otherwise many scenes may seem ridiculous or ambivalent - next to those already twisted and exaggerated. The story-line is still present and severe felonies have been alleviated by "softer" torts, leading to rather mild - but still distinctive and witty ending, using all more or less improbable scenes and lines the US cop films are famous for. The cast is also evenly strong, many actors have had their roles in original Martin Beck films. My favourite is Johan Hedenberg as Grünvald Karlsson, although he was easiest to imitate, but still...

I watched the film in the midst of watching Beck-series and I liked it: I had my gigs and laughs, and the "real" series I saw later obtained a new angle for me. If you are not a serious Martin Beck admirer, then Kommissarie Späck provides a peculiar value beyond. To my mind, the film has been underestimated so far.