User Reviews

The reason for the low rating is the absolute lack of surprise in the plot - but it is a solid comedy which can be a piece of evidence against anyone who says Germans do not have humour.

I must say, as a former military service man, I was quite intrigue to find the similarities in the military life of different countries. I am full aware of the exaggeration and parody, but nonetheless it resonates.

If you just want to have a good time without turning on your brain, this is a good comedy that you will enjoy.

"Kein Bund fürs Leben" is a typical German comedy which has a rather cheap feel to it and reminds of several TV productions. The movie deals with a guy who gets to join the German Bundeswehr involuntarily because a colleague loses his denial papers in order to get the chance to get down on his girlfriend. When entering the Bundeswehr he acts like a giant idiot and of course gets in one room with some of the biggest losers around. Now if you have seen any of the Police Academy movies you pretty much know whats coming up. The loser turns out to be a hero and leads his loser-colleagues to win a contest with the local US army squad. Sounds pretty deja vu, doesn't it. And there some chicks and a happy end with new born loser-hero guy getting the chick of his dreams. BAD Movie that worst of all lacks good jokes and has some hardly bearable trashy moments like the crap ending with the "Tränen lügen nicht"-theme. If this movie was shown on SAT1 or RTL ... typical German production for an evening with nothing else to do but its insane that movies like this get shown in cinema while much better movies never will get a chance. If you want to laugh there's plenty of better movies around, honestly one show of Axel Steins (he also stars in this movie) TV-Show has more laughs than this whole 90minute movie.

This is one typical German comedy movie. Some losers are called for military service and after committing any possible mistake they could find are caught in the need to win a manouver against the superior American army.

Of course the plot is kind of superficial, the character's development is simple and the humor is not challenging either. But no matter what there are a lot of good jokes and I was laughing almost the entire movie.

Also don't expect this to reflect a correct image of the usual military service in Germany. This is nowhere near reality but since the movie doesn't raise this claim anywhere..who cares?

So after all I say: Great movie to send your intelligence on vacation, catch a few friends and few beers and just have a good time.

Can't really understand all the hate this movie receives. Jokes are funny and the acting is solid.

And for everyone knowing the German military service and army physical it will be twice as funny, even if it isn't a realistic depiction. It should more be seen as a parody, that sarcastically shows the uselessness of compulsory military service.

Sure there isn't a lot of action, but come on, they went to McDonald's drive-through with a tank.

All in all an enjoyable comedy, that even has some kind of subliminal message.

8/10