"Ein Stück vom Glück" is a German television film from 2001, so this one will have its 20th anniversary in 2.5 months and still it was on national television today, which admittedly had to do with a key actor here having his 75th birthday these days. I shall get to that/him later on. Let's stay with the basics for now. The director is Rolf von Sydow. He was already getting close to 80 back then and this is of course one of his final career efforts as he retired approximately one year later. Nonetheless, he lived on for quite some time afterwards as he died in summer 2019 aged 94. Highly long and prolific career as he started in the mid50s already, so was in the industry for almost half a century. He is not related to the Oscar-nominated Bergman actor Max von Sydow. This makes sense because quite a bit of the stuff Rolf worked on was also not exactly great quality. I cannot talk about his early works because I don't think I have seen any of it, but there is no justification for all the Rosamunde Pilcher adaptations he directed over the years. The writer is Rolf-René Schneider. Not too much to say about him. He started in the early 1990s, is/was of course considerably younger than the director, but his most recent career effort is already almost a decade ago now as well (according to imdb), so could very well be the case that he is retired too now and honestly if we take a look at the quality here and also stuff like "Klinik unter Palmen" and much more he did, this would not be a reason for sadness. Cannot really find his age anywhere.
As for the cast, Wolfgang Stumph is the guy I talked about earlier. He is about to turn 75 and is mostly remembered for playing Stubbe in the long-running series that carries his name and also for the much older Trabi movies. I like the actor. There is quite a likable presence around him and of course it can be said that he is one from the East who managed a good career in reunited Germany. Actually, he did not even act before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, started in 1991 when he was already in his 40s, so yeah, definitely a late-bloomer. But good we have him. Not necessarily with really weak films like this one here, but in general and honestly, he still made these under 1.5 hours partially watchable for seconds at least. Stumph's co-lead is the considerably older Klausjürgen Wussow and he died a long time ago already aged 78 and I am positive that Stumph can get older. Fingers crossed. As for Wussow, no surprise he is first credit here. He was quite a star during his prime and Schwarzwaldklinik was seen by a gigantic amount of viewers back then. Or even way before this film. Wussow's popularity was fading considerably already by then. His health as well probably. I cannot really say I was ever a fan. Still I never found him as bad as Jutta Speidel. Luckily, she is only a supporting character this time and does not have a gigantic amount of screen time, but still too much if you ask me. Not too much dialogue either, which is a good thing. However, scenes like the one with the rose in the end (which was just cringeworthy, not cute) or when she rushes to the dramatic occasion and informs Wussow's character about his buddy being in the hospital were bad enough. Same about the scene in the boat. She was still featured way too much on here and it also makes clear that age differences were not an issue back then at all as she played a love interest to Wussow's character. Antonia Feuerstein is a cutie though, not related to Herbert, but Jutta Speidel's daughter, so with all the terrible films the latter was in, her daughter might be her finest achievement. But maybe her mother is the only reason why Antonia got into this film. And into all the trashy other projects she appeared in because also there her mother was always a part of it. Finally, Wolf Roth. So strange to see his body of work and how lately he got into two big Hollywood films. Now that is unusual for sure after 50 years in the industry and deep into his 70s. He is the main antagonist here.
As for the story here, I cannot say anything positive at all. The constant back and forth here with the love-hate relationship between the two (likable) men at the center of the story felt rather uninspired and for the sake of it. Like we have Stumph's character almost risk his own life to save Wussow's character's life and one scene later he does not care anymore and leaves and says something like that the other guy should simply kill himself if he wants to. This was by the way a prime example of the lack of realism here already. We have within under five minutes a man meeting his ex and daughter randomly at a supermarket and begging for their attention. Next up, he is pulled into a car by a bunch of crooks (led by Gunter Berger, rip, he does not look entirely different compared to Stumph, who on the other hand always reminds me a bit of Achim Mentzel) that he owes money to. And finally, there is the "highlight" (actually low point) where he ends up there with his buddy about to jump off a roof and he can convince him not to. This is generally something that, in this quantity, maybe happens to us every five years, maybe every ten years, only, but here it is all in one night. Yeah, right. It's a wild, wild life no? It was just too much. The soundtrack I was also struggling with most of the time because it felt as if this one was supposed to be loud and in your face and make people forget about the screenplay shortcomings this way. I know I didn't.
The aforementioned romance between Speidel's and Wussow's character also did not help exactly. I may be a bit biased here, but I stated early already that I can't stand Speidel and not a big fan of Wussow either, so I did not care one bit for them to get together. This was definitely a key inclusion. And it sucked there. This film also had many weak moments and scenes though. Just take the scene with the autograph. I mean the boy was supposed to be depicted and indifferent and everything, but the way it was displayed still felt rather poor. Many more examples there. If you watch the movie, which you really shouldn't, then you will know what I am talking about. Still kinda funny though how people back then were 300 bucks in debt, which feels like peanuts these days, which people owe others thousands and thousands of money. Oh yeah, the hospital stay was also not exactly the movie's brightest hour, at least not in how it happened. And Speidel talking about true friendship during this occasion while insulting an antagonist was even worse, just from the acting perspective. So yeah, i think that without the likable Stumph, this would have been a much more horrible film even. Admittedly, it is still truly bad (as you can see from my rating), but luckily Stumph is really included a lot in here, over 50% of the scenes and that is a good thing.
The usual issue with these films is also the happy ending. Not because it is happy, but because it is really forced and unrealistic almost all of the time. Definitely here as well. Look what we got? It's still okay he gets his television at the hospital, but Wussow's character having his big comeback moment then on television and he is no longer depressed and he has a woman he loves and who loves him etc. It all turned out perfectly fine with him and look where he was at the beginning of the film and decide for yourself if that is realistic. This was the big all-in moment here and you certainly cannot deny that Wussow's character may have had some parallels to the actor himself, even if he was not really a television entertainer. Sometimes he looked really old here, sometimes not that much. But maybe he hoped that he could find something other than Schwarzwaldklinik that would give him a huge comeback in the limelight. I mean he was definitely rich enough to retire, but appearing in films like this makes obvious how much he cared about being famous still. Oh yeah, of course the debts are paid as well. No need to say that. Everything is fixed. It was also not just that Wussow's character showed up on stage there, but also how he did. It was a bit of a surprise he was there and the announcer (i.e. the antagonist) was surprised too and only found out while announcing. By the way, the song played there by Wussow's character felt very forgettable and the name is really make-believe. The worst kind sort of. It was not meaningful story-wise and also not in terms of being challenging for a singer. Very shallow song and maybe you understand the title of my review now. You must watch until the very end though to do so. It's nothing one should do. Accept not understanding my reference instead. This film gets a big thumbs-down from me and sadly it was just the beginning of a long time of terrible ARD (and smaller stations) television films. Highly not recommended.
As for the cast, Wolfgang Stumph is the guy I talked about earlier. He is about to turn 75 and is mostly remembered for playing Stubbe in the long-running series that carries his name and also for the much older Trabi movies. I like the actor. There is quite a likable presence around him and of course it can be said that he is one from the East who managed a good career in reunited Germany. Actually, he did not even act before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, started in 1991 when he was already in his 40s, so yeah, definitely a late-bloomer. But good we have him. Not necessarily with really weak films like this one here, but in general and honestly, he still made these under 1.5 hours partially watchable for seconds at least. Stumph's co-lead is the considerably older Klausjürgen Wussow and he died a long time ago already aged 78 and I am positive that Stumph can get older. Fingers crossed. As for Wussow, no surprise he is first credit here. He was quite a star during his prime and Schwarzwaldklinik was seen by a gigantic amount of viewers back then. Or even way before this film. Wussow's popularity was fading considerably already by then. His health as well probably. I cannot really say I was ever a fan. Still I never found him as bad as Jutta Speidel. Luckily, she is only a supporting character this time and does not have a gigantic amount of screen time, but still too much if you ask me. Not too much dialogue either, which is a good thing. However, scenes like the one with the rose in the end (which was just cringeworthy, not cute) or when she rushes to the dramatic occasion and informs Wussow's character about his buddy being in the hospital were bad enough. Same about the scene in the boat. She was still featured way too much on here and it also makes clear that age differences were not an issue back then at all as she played a love interest to Wussow's character. Antonia Feuerstein is a cutie though, not related to Herbert, but Jutta Speidel's daughter, so with all the terrible films the latter was in, her daughter might be her finest achievement. But maybe her mother is the only reason why Antonia got into this film. And into all the trashy other projects she appeared in because also there her mother was always a part of it. Finally, Wolf Roth. So strange to see his body of work and how lately he got into two big Hollywood films. Now that is unusual for sure after 50 years in the industry and deep into his 70s. He is the main antagonist here.
As for the story here, I cannot say anything positive at all. The constant back and forth here with the love-hate relationship between the two (likable) men at the center of the story felt rather uninspired and for the sake of it. Like we have Stumph's character almost risk his own life to save Wussow's character's life and one scene later he does not care anymore and leaves and says something like that the other guy should simply kill himself if he wants to. This was by the way a prime example of the lack of realism here already. We have within under five minutes a man meeting his ex and daughter randomly at a supermarket and begging for their attention. Next up, he is pulled into a car by a bunch of crooks (led by Gunter Berger, rip, he does not look entirely different compared to Stumph, who on the other hand always reminds me a bit of Achim Mentzel) that he owes money to. And finally, there is the "highlight" (actually low point) where he ends up there with his buddy about to jump off a roof and he can convince him not to. This is generally something that, in this quantity, maybe happens to us every five years, maybe every ten years, only, but here it is all in one night. Yeah, right. It's a wild, wild life no? It was just too much. The soundtrack I was also struggling with most of the time because it felt as if this one was supposed to be loud and in your face and make people forget about the screenplay shortcomings this way. I know I didn't.
The aforementioned romance between Speidel's and Wussow's character also did not help exactly. I may be a bit biased here, but I stated early already that I can't stand Speidel and not a big fan of Wussow either, so I did not care one bit for them to get together. This was definitely a key inclusion. And it sucked there. This film also had many weak moments and scenes though. Just take the scene with the autograph. I mean the boy was supposed to be depicted and indifferent and everything, but the way it was displayed still felt rather poor. Many more examples there. If you watch the movie, which you really shouldn't, then you will know what I am talking about. Still kinda funny though how people back then were 300 bucks in debt, which feels like peanuts these days, which people owe others thousands and thousands of money. Oh yeah, the hospital stay was also not exactly the movie's brightest hour, at least not in how it happened. And Speidel talking about true friendship during this occasion while insulting an antagonist was even worse, just from the acting perspective. So yeah, i think that without the likable Stumph, this would have been a much more horrible film even. Admittedly, it is still truly bad (as you can see from my rating), but luckily Stumph is really included a lot in here, over 50% of the scenes and that is a good thing.
The usual issue with these films is also the happy ending. Not because it is happy, but because it is really forced and unrealistic almost all of the time. Definitely here as well. Look what we got? It's still okay he gets his television at the hospital, but Wussow's character having his big comeback moment then on television and he is no longer depressed and he has a woman he loves and who loves him etc. It all turned out perfectly fine with him and look where he was at the beginning of the film and decide for yourself if that is realistic. This was the big all-in moment here and you certainly cannot deny that Wussow's character may have had some parallels to the actor himself, even if he was not really a television entertainer. Sometimes he looked really old here, sometimes not that much. But maybe he hoped that he could find something other than Schwarzwaldklinik that would give him a huge comeback in the limelight. I mean he was definitely rich enough to retire, but appearing in films like this makes obvious how much he cared about being famous still. Oh yeah, of course the debts are paid as well. No need to say that. Everything is fixed. It was also not just that Wussow's character showed up on stage there, but also how he did. It was a bit of a surprise he was there and the announcer (i.e. the antagonist) was surprised too and only found out while announcing. By the way, the song played there by Wussow's character felt very forgettable and the name is really make-believe. The worst kind sort of. It was not meaningful story-wise and also not in terms of being challenging for a singer. Very shallow song and maybe you understand the title of my review now. You must watch until the very end though to do so. It's nothing one should do. Accept not understanding my reference instead. This film gets a big thumbs-down from me and sadly it was just the beginning of a long time of terrible ARD (and smaller stations) television films. Highly not recommended.