"Liebling, weck die Hühner auf", which means literally translated "Honey, wake up the chickens", is a German television film from 2009, so this one (still) has its 10th anniversary this year. It runs for 90 minutes and is the second film from a trilogy that started a really long time ago already and there were huge gaps between the installments. The most recent is from 2017, so who knows maybe the will even make a fourth film at some point in the 20s. Pretty strange to write 20s because somehow I still associate it with the 1920s. Anyway, the only one from the team of writers and directors who worked on all three films of the "Liebling, Hühner" trilogy is Rainer Kaufmann. His director here is Matthias Steurer and his co-writer is Lothar Kurzawa and while none of the trio managed a real breakthrough on the big screen, they are all fairly experienced filmmakers and also were experienced filmmakers a decade ago. I think the kids were played by different actors during this trilogy, but Axel Milberg and Katja Flint, who looks really stunning for 50 here, played in all three films. And for this second film here they got nice help from a cast that includes names that are pretty good or at least pretty famous and in this quantity more than you would expect for a small screen film. Thomas Thieme I have always been a great fan of. He played in really many films, also some really famous films, but because it was often just smaller roles he is not too well-known. But he has great recognition value and I am happy every time I see him in a film. Kai Wiesinger I must admit I am not too big on, but he has also played in some pretty famous movies here in Germany and German film buffs like myself immediately recognize the name. And finally Andreas Schmidt, who won his first German Film Award the same year that this movie here was released. He is also pretty talented and has great recognition value. sadly he is not with us anymore, may he rest in peace. And the really young Liv Lisa Fries is in this one too, but just plays a really minor character.
Now as for the plot, there is one big plot at the center of it involving Milberg's character, which makes obvious he is the biggest lead here and some sub-plots involving all the other Teuffel family members. By the way pretty ironic what the family name is and that there is a lot of interaction with a priest in here (Schmidt). So yeah, the key story is about a precious coin that is found in a lake by a little girl and this results in several characters becoming greedy and thinking there is a priceless treasure down there. But the truth is something else as we find out near the end and it involves the narrator from early on and her wish (or maybe actually her parents' wish for her) to spend more time with other children. No need to go any further in detail. And while this story line is far from perfect too, I think that it is still the best thing of the film for me subjectively because it results in many scenes with Milberg, Thieme and Schmidt together. The moment when Milberg's character in secret at night goes out dive for the treasure and basically his head collides in the water with Thieme's who was there for the same reason and afterwards both deny why they are really there is so laugh-out-loud funny really. Great stuff. The story stays solid when the trio realizes they have to work together in order to make sure that they are not losing the treasure (or what it is worth) to Wiesinger's character. The latter also enters in a romantic relationship with Milberg's character's wife and she is ready to leave her husband (and family) apparently before all of a sudden Wiesinger's character thinks it is just a scam to distract him from the search for the treasure and that her affections aren't real. Okay this sub-plot was not the writers' brightest moment, even if it not a failure. Same is true about the rushed-in vineyard scenes (involving the son of the family) that added literally nothing and only they wanted to construct a story around the sun too, but this felt really shoddy. As for the daughter, she gets her own plot too. Basically through pressure from a friend she thinks she has to lose her virginity because she turns 18 already and ends up asking a jock, who is definitely a casanova, but he just got a new girlfriend. So she ends up with the guy who is maybe not her very first choice because he is not the most attractive (at least according to her friend), but seems to treat her well. Also fairly forgettable storyline, even if I kinda liked the summary at the end during which we find out how they are constantly arguing, breaking up and getting together it seems. So no stupid perfect romance tale and that felt realistic. But yeah neither of these sub-plot felt too good or even close to the core story, which is the only part for which the film is somewhat worth seeing, but I am clearly biased because of Thieme there too and his handshake with Wiesinger's character was really hilarious, one of many moments where he shone for me. Sadly, even his character gets bad writing at the end when they in the most unrealistic manner now all of a sudden find a real treasure in the lake. This was the final nail in the coffin for me to give this film a negative recommendation unfortunately. It's not a failure by any means and there is really a lot worse out there when it comes to German television films, but the overall outcome also does not make me curious about films 1 and 3 here. I guess you also watch something else, even if you probably don't need to see the first in order to sometimes appreciate these 1.5 hours we got here.
Now as for the plot, there is one big plot at the center of it involving Milberg's character, which makes obvious he is the biggest lead here and some sub-plots involving all the other Teuffel family members. By the way pretty ironic what the family name is and that there is a lot of interaction with a priest in here (Schmidt). So yeah, the key story is about a precious coin that is found in a lake by a little girl and this results in several characters becoming greedy and thinking there is a priceless treasure down there. But the truth is something else as we find out near the end and it involves the narrator from early on and her wish (or maybe actually her parents' wish for her) to spend more time with other children. No need to go any further in detail. And while this story line is far from perfect too, I think that it is still the best thing of the film for me subjectively because it results in many scenes with Milberg, Thieme and Schmidt together. The moment when Milberg's character in secret at night goes out dive for the treasure and basically his head collides in the water with Thieme's who was there for the same reason and afterwards both deny why they are really there is so laugh-out-loud funny really. Great stuff. The story stays solid when the trio realizes they have to work together in order to make sure that they are not losing the treasure (or what it is worth) to Wiesinger's character. The latter also enters in a romantic relationship with Milberg's character's wife and she is ready to leave her husband (and family) apparently before all of a sudden Wiesinger's character thinks it is just a scam to distract him from the search for the treasure and that her affections aren't real. Okay this sub-plot was not the writers' brightest moment, even if it not a failure. Same is true about the rushed-in vineyard scenes (involving the son of the family) that added literally nothing and only they wanted to construct a story around the sun too, but this felt really shoddy. As for the daughter, she gets her own plot too. Basically through pressure from a friend she thinks she has to lose her virginity because she turns 18 already and ends up asking a jock, who is definitely a casanova, but he just got a new girlfriend. So she ends up with the guy who is maybe not her very first choice because he is not the most attractive (at least according to her friend), but seems to treat her well. Also fairly forgettable storyline, even if I kinda liked the summary at the end during which we find out how they are constantly arguing, breaking up and getting together it seems. So no stupid perfect romance tale and that felt realistic. But yeah neither of these sub-plot felt too good or even close to the core story, which is the only part for which the film is somewhat worth seeing, but I am clearly biased because of Thieme there too and his handshake with Wiesinger's character was really hilarious, one of many moments where he shone for me. Sadly, even his character gets bad writing at the end when they in the most unrealistic manner now all of a sudden find a real treasure in the lake. This was the final nail in the coffin for me to give this film a negative recommendation unfortunately. It's not a failure by any means and there is really a lot worse out there when it comes to German television films, but the overall outcome also does not make me curious about films 1 and 3 here. I guess you also watch something else, even if you probably don't need to see the first in order to sometimes appreciate these 1.5 hours we got here.
