"Die Oma ist tot", which basically means that grandma is dead, is a German movie from 1997, so this one has its 20th anniversary this year. It runs for 85 minutes, so is relatively short as this already includes a solid amount of closing credits too. It was a small screen release and an earlier career effort made by Hape Kerkeling with his significant other Angelo Colagrossi back then, one of many collaborations until they separated. I believe this film is evidence how Kerkeling may be a great host and entertainer, but in terms of acting he is not exactly a revelation. Admittedly, he is not worse than everybody else in the cast here, probably better, but just not anywhere near the level he reaches in other fields.
The movie is about a married couple who gets visited by the wife's mother. Sadly the mother dies quickly afterward and the couple have to try their best to fulfill her last wish of being buried in Poland as the wife and mother originate from Poland. After run-ins with undertakers that prove way too expensive, the duo (and the kid who use this for skipping school) drive to Poland themselves in their car and it becomes a bit of a road movie at that point. This journey to Poland is basically the entire second half of the film and many complications ensue, including confusion about coffins, huge sums of money, cars etc. In general, you can also see from this film here that back in the 1990s cars played a way bigger role in many German films than they do today. This includes the Manta films for example, but there are more example such as films about traffic jams or a mix of cars and Berlin Wall-related subjects. But back to this one here. I think it has its okay moments, but sometimes the parallels between Kerkeling and Gottschalk (whose films are relatively weak too) cannot be overseen. i have to give this movie a thumbs-down as well. Most of the attempts at comedy have not worked out in here. Or maybe they did back then, but this also means that the film has not aged well at all. Watch something else instead. And don't be fooled by the title, it's straight-up comedy, but never a black comedy which you may have guessed and which also could have meant the film to turn out much better.
The movie is about a married couple who gets visited by the wife's mother. Sadly the mother dies quickly afterward and the couple have to try their best to fulfill her last wish of being buried in Poland as the wife and mother originate from Poland. After run-ins with undertakers that prove way too expensive, the duo (and the kid who use this for skipping school) drive to Poland themselves in their car and it becomes a bit of a road movie at that point. This journey to Poland is basically the entire second half of the film and many complications ensue, including confusion about coffins, huge sums of money, cars etc. In general, you can also see from this film here that back in the 1990s cars played a way bigger role in many German films than they do today. This includes the Manta films for example, but there are more example such as films about traffic jams or a mix of cars and Berlin Wall-related subjects. But back to this one here. I think it has its okay moments, but sometimes the parallels between Kerkeling and Gottschalk (whose films are relatively weak too) cannot be overseen. i have to give this movie a thumbs-down as well. Most of the attempts at comedy have not worked out in here. Or maybe they did back then, but this also means that the film has not aged well at all. Watch something else instead. And don't be fooled by the title, it's straight-up comedy, but never a black comedy which you may have guessed and which also could have meant the film to turn out much better.
