User Reviews

"Ein Schnitzel für drei" is a German movie from 2009, released for the small screen and so it runs for pretty much exactly 1.5 hours just as they always do. The director is Manfred Stelzer and he is also one of the actually surprisingly many writers working on the screenplay here. But this is not a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth luckily as I enjoyed the film pretty much from start to finish. If you are into German (maybe even some international movies like Bond) films, then you have definitely come across the two lead actors Armin Rohde and Ludger Pistor on other occasions already, they are really famous here, especially Rohde, even if you could argue that maybe it has more to do with self-promoting oneself and recognition value than really outstanding acting talent and range. Anyway, lets not be too picky. Both are doing a fine job in this movie. And the rest of the cast is not too known anyway, but they are okay as well with what they were given. It's a surprisingly multi-cultural cast actually. This film we got here has its 10th anniversary and it was enough of a success that they made several sequels to this day even and also a television show, which is pretty huge admittedly for a German small screen release be so successful that all this follows. It's just a lot of fun. Sure there are more serious moments too like unemployment struggles, long-time love relationships crumbling potentially breaking and even a dangerous(?) bank robber, but all these well at least 1 and 3 mostly are also handled in a fairly comedic way really. It is never about truly making a dramatic impact or a statement on society, even if the way unemployment agencies are working as they are depicted here should not be ignored. The bank robbery part is the best example. It is all make-believe. of course Pistor's character is not the one who commits these crimes and we know obviously. But when the real bankrobber gets a gunshot wound from a botched robbery, now well Rohde has to grant his friend the "favor" to adjust to the situation. This shows how chaotic these two are really most of the time. Just like at the very end when they run into the actual bank robber. Of course! But by the the film is fun enough already and the characters are likable enough that you won't carry too much about lack of realism as it works greatly for comedic purposes to go once more a bit over the top. Other than that, it is also really the small moments that cound. Some of them involve dementia (another fairly serious subject) and the final shot was kinda smartg and touching at the same time. I enjoyed this film a lot and there were moments when I considered giving it an even higher rating perhaps. But well, it is not among the greatest works of 2009, which it would have been then according to my rating. Instead, it is just a big success, sometimes pointless fun, sometimes there is an interesting meaning behind it all. These days now when we have horrible stuff void of talent whatsoever like Ju Göhte and the Schweighöfer films defining the German comedic landscape, it can only be said that seeing a film like this, even if it is not entirely new anymore, is quite a delight. Also proves that German television is not dead by any means quality-wise. Just look beyond Tatort and you will find convincing works I'm sure. This one here is a bit of an unusual and unexpected success story for sure. Certainly recommendable if you just want to relax a bit and suck in a movie where you don't have to think that much. We all have these moments. Go for it then! You won't regret it. And don't pay too much attention to the pretty weak insignificant title, the "three" is even genuinely misleading as this is all about two characters and the schnitzel reference is also way out of place and I am not (only) just saying it because I am vegetarian.