User Reviews

...and I thought the only things I knew about the Low Countries were wooden shoes, tulips, windmills and Rembrandt. For the first eighteen years of my life, I thought that movie was made in Quebec. I was not the only one, though. In Canadian french, that movie and its two sequels were named "Les Lavigueurs Déménagent" ( The Lavigueurs are moving) after a poor Montreal family that won the lottery jackpot a few months before. They were already the laughing stock of the province, then people started to think that movie was really about them! The promoters thought they'd make a bunch of money out of what was "Flavor of the month" back then, not really smart, not really kind either. The movie showed the Lavigueurs (Floodders) as ill-mannered, horny 24-7 (even incestuous!) hillbillies but if you ask me the real ill-mannered hillbillies without any class were the Quebec promoters for making money by covering other people's reputation in dirt.

On top of that, the movie was one of the first foreign movies to be translated in joual (Quebec working-class slang) instead of the usual standard French and in the sequel, the family is said (still only in the Quebec version) to be from Saguenay. Two more reasons for francophone viewers to think the movie is as quebecer as poutine and vachon cakes.

The movie itself is still hilariously politically non-correct. No matter what greedy promoters did here, it kicks butt all over the world!

This Dutch classic by Dick Maas, director of the highly suspenseful film 'The Lift' (De Lift - 1983) and the awful 'Sint' (2010), was a huge success in the Netherlands in the eighties, mostly appealing to those with the typical sense of humor of a teenager.

I'm in my forties now and must admit I've seen it more than a dozen times and still enjoy it a lot. It's quite rude but none more so than many other films I saw over the years and judging by Simon Pegg's and Nick Frost's success these days there's a more than willing audience for this kind of fun.

The story is about a family of asocial misfits who are relocated to a villa in an upper class neighborhood, the only available place due to housing shortage. Their eccentric behavior to say the least causes havoc among the local residents who take the law into their own hands trying to get rid of the family, eventually discovering they're not much different. Housing issues are common in overcrowded areas in the Netherlands where in the eighties whole communities had to be taken down because of severe industrial pollution of the grounds they were built on.

Most of the humor is of a sexual nature in a very basic sense. It's with toe clenching satisfaction to safely observe so much obscenity but with an almost delicate touch that puts serious social problems into perspective. Incest, alcoholism, neglect of the elderly, Dick Maas tackles them beautifully in a great social satire.

Some reviews mention a typical Dutch sense of humor. I think there's a certain amount of sexual obscenities and slapstick in films from loads of other countries and often with a much darker and scarier background. If there must be a typical Dutch sense of humor I'd rather think of Alex van Warmerdam's films 'Abel' and 'The Northerners'. If there's something typically Dutch in this film though, it's friendly rudeness.

The film is done low budget but it doesn't make it any less enjoyable. The acting is fine throughout the film and Nelly Frijda as Ma Flodder is epic. She, Huub Stapel (Johnnie Flodder), René van 't Hoff (son Kees) and Tatjana Simic (daughter Kees) are showbiz veterans and as a team carry this film to a higher level than it's been given credit for.

Look out for the memorable scene where daughter Kees for blackmail purposes seduces horny neighbor Neuteboom (Bert André).

Followed by Flodder in Amerika! (1992), Flodder 3 (1995) and a five season TV series (1993-1998).

for me, "flodder" is one of the greatest dutch movie's ever made. me coming from an average home and not being part of the "high society", i really enjoyed this movie, because i could relate. i still at this time have something against people who think "they're sh*t doesn't stink" so i laugh my ass off watching it. to me the best car chase ever is still the part where johnny (Huub Stapel) chases the tennis players who beat up his brother, ultimately ending the chase with those stuck up tennis players landing in a swimming pool of one of the recendents. oh sure, films like the matrix reloaded and the island had cool effects in they're car chases, but it didn't make me jump to the edge of my seat. flodder did though, because i WANTED the porche to crash or at least lose the chase. i still think it's a classic, and i think it will always be.

i've read some Belgium remarks about this movie and by some i'm insulted, not because of the movie but for example:"wearing wooden shoes" and saying that this movie is "average" don't talk about dutch cinema like that. what good has Belgium contributed to cinema overall? nothing.... only hector (played by Urbanus) i really injoyed and further more you're movie's were not even worth mentioning. THANK YOU.

I know Dick Maas from his movies like The Lift, Amsterdamned, Sint and Prey, so watching a comedy by him is an interesting experience. He also directed the sequels Flodder in America and Flodder 3. The series also produced a TV series that ran for five years and a comic book.

The Flodder family has been moved from their state-owned home on a toxic waste dump to an upper class neighborhood, which works out about as well as you would imagine. That said, Johnny Flodder (Huub Stapel, who has been in several of movies for Maas) ends up falling in love with rich girl Yolanda Kruisman (fashion model Apollonia van Ravenstein).

There was some controversy about how this movie portrayed welfare recipients, but it was popular that eventually people just stopped listening. It's cute, kind of like the Beverly Hillbillies with lots more sex and property damage.

This is a hilarious and highly rewatchable movie about a lower class family of social misfits and petty criminals clashing with the residents of the upper class neighborhood they're forced to relocate to. Why are they forced to move? Apparently their old apartment in some awful neighborhood was on top of a toxic waste dump and the only home available was an upper class villa. While the Flodder family is quite happy with their new home the other snobby residents are not happy. This is partially out of prejudice and partially justified as the newcomers do start causing trouble resulting in escalating incidents where one provokes another. There are a few mild sexually tinged scenes some might object to and of course there is some questionable stuff such as Ma Flodder making booze in her cellar. This movie isn't based on any book that I know of and it is pretty absurd in how extreme the actions taken by characters are. A drunken colonel stealing a tank from a military base and wreaking havoc before blowing up the Flodder's family house with it has to be the one that takes the cake. Just to be clear, no one dies except for one character and any injuries are mostly played for laughs. 10/10.

PS: The movie also contains halarious scenes of an inept social worker becoming the victim of his own failures to get to the Flodders adjusted to their new neighborhood. Even funnier is perhaps the fact that before the insane colonel appears in his tank the Flodders verry nearly succeed befriending their new neighbors during a rather wild party.