Back in Trouble

...but which disappointed me.

The rough edges of Troublemaker are missing, leaving us with something more generic you could compare to productions for television from that time even if there are a few audacious scenes in it. Then there is even more German language than in its predecessor, a language which was already a tad too prevalent there for my liking. The musical soundtrack is a downsize too, here as well more in line with stuff you'd hear in a telefilm, we had quality live music in the predecessor after all. Also there seems to be something off in the acting chemistry between Thierry van Werveke (Johnny Chicago) and Ender Frings (Chuck Moreno). The chemistry between those two was one of the first film's highlights.

In general the acting is not as good, too much in the stiff style you'd see in many German films, especially television productions. Lines don't follow as naturally, especially when van Werveke replies in Luxembourgish to German spoken lines. One acting highlight though is the scene where he is alone with Nicole Max (Jenny Jacoby) outside the Chinese restaurant. The scene where Johnny meets with then local news anchor Sandy Lahure would be a national meme nowadays. To see the films' director Andy Bausch as pizza deliverer is worth a chuckle and hearing in Germany born Oscar Ortega Sánchez (Coco Moreno) uttering a few sentences in Luxembourgish is funny. Although to me the best acting performances go to André Jung (playing a small role of a pimp) and Luc Feit (the Luxembourgish police commissioner).

To me the producers tried too much to make this film popular in Germany too (I guess a good chunk if not most of the budget funds came from there). Instead of having a sequel as classic as its predecessor to at least tiny Luxembourg, we're left with a rather mediocre product.