User Reviews

"C(r)ook" or "Basta - Rotwein oder Totsein" (what a cringey title) is a German 100-minute movie from 2004 and it is directed by Oscar winner Pepe Danquart. He is also one of the several writers working on it. The most known other name from the writing staff is probably Chris Kraus and you can check his body of work to see other fairly famous works. For Danquart, it is one of his more recent films, especially if you ignore his documentary and awards show works. Anyway, this one we have here will have its 15th anniversary in 2 years and quite a few cast members are pretty well-known today still, not just Hübchen who plays the title character, but also the likes of Bleibtreu, Harfouch and Brennicke. And you also find Hader, Düringer, Friedrich and Weisz who are all considered among Austria's finest these days (plus the late Hackl) and for quite a while, so no surprise the country of production here is Austria besides Germany.

Now about the story, I am sadly not really convinced. For a film that is basically 100% comedy, well maybe 90% comedy and 10% crime, it has simply not even close to enough funny moments, even if the actors may all be gifted. The film stands or falls with its script and here it is unfortunately the latter. I think it is roughly on the same level as another German mobster comedy, namely "Mord ist mein Geschäft, Liebling" / "Killing is My Business, Honey". But that one isn't particularly convincing either. Finally a few more words on "C(r)ook": I never thought the central character played by Hübchen was really interesting enough or his intended transformation from crook to cook was something we could really cheer for to happen. And as if it wasn't bad enough already that this did not work out, things did not look better for the supporting characters. Some of them were too gimmicky, some were boring and bland. They almost never hit the right mark with this film. Don't watch.