Hjelp, vi er russ

A Norwegian take on a high school comedy, though more of a parody of the genre. There's talent here in many ways, and actually I found th film more entertaining than I expected. The quality of this is far from what we've become used to from Norway the latter years, and this is not really very comparable with the quality of these.

Some of this parody is spot on, as well as the work from the professional comedians and actors in smaller roles as school principal, gymnastics teacher, a local mr. Fixit, and not to mention the disgusting local policeman. The film pays tributes to films, film-genres , music, stereotypes as well as clichés. The film also makes fun of the graduation rituals, which at spot on, even with the car problems.

A gang of high school Russ, graduate students which dress up in red costumes in Norway each spring, is going to a huge party down on the Southern West coast of Norway to a party festival just for Russ. Their dream is to have the party of their life. But it doesn't go without troubles.

The problem is that the forced amateurish style is a little bit too much, and the humor is often too sex focused, crude and racial fixated. This ruins much of what could be a film with very memorable aspects. Director Kenneth Olaf Hjellum really make some great parody moments, especially with the local TV-news reports. This is The amateur actors are charming, but the acting is quite off except from a couple of them, which really are good. Charm doesn't make this worth watching, but some of the ideas might.

However, if you are more concerned with killing off time, this will both give some great moments due to music and slap stick moments with hillbilly style rural stupidities. I really think some might remember things from their own graduation.