"Sommer in Rom", which means "Summer in Rome (obviously!), is a German television film that was made back in 2013, so nothing really new anymore and this one runs for approximately 1.5 hours, which is basically the rule for German small screen releases. You can check out the name of the director and two writers yourself, but let me say that they ere pretty experienced already by 2013, especially the director, ho is retired now and this was the penultimate film of his career. One of the two writers was not that experienced, but also far from a rookie. Anyway, I think it is a bit unusual that the three key players behind the camera are all men, at least in terms of German films. Usually there is also a female component. However, in front of the camera, there are many females. Esther Schweins I am familiar with for decades now already because I already saw her back in the old millennium on "RTL Samstag Nacht", a really brilliant comedy show. And she is still a fox nowadays, definitely pretty attractive for her age. The greatest actress, however, she is not, so I am not too surprised that there wasn't a whole lot to her character, even if she is somehow the female that is the most in the center of this movie. Her character's daughter is played by the young Mala Emde before her breakthrough. Noadays she is cast for lead roles, but obviously back then she also had to make money and the consequence is that she also appeared in films that are maybe not too great quality-wise. By the way, the title here confused me a little but because I think there is something like a "Ein Sommer in..." or "Eine Liebe in" series here in my country and these three words (a summer in / a love in) are folloed by a city or country and honestly these films are among the worst of the worst. Stupid romance garbage with zero realism. You can literally feel your brain cells die while watching. But ecven if the title sounds similar, this is not part of said series. It is also at least slightly better. The "A"/"Ein" is missing at the beginning of the title and this is what gave them away in a positive manner. This film is based on a book by the way. Anyway, as for Rome, it is mostly a disappointment. I don't know if people who love Italy or even live there can appreciate the outcome here, but honestly with the exception of brief Colosseum mentions and a famous German saying (that includes Rome), it could have played in every other city. In every other country even maybe. With the exception of course that three members of the family (basically all except the small boy) are hit on by Italians. There Schweins once again gets the smallest part. It's just an old guy asking her out and she immediately mentions she is married. The biggest part there is about Thomas Heinze and that is not unsurprising at all because his character is the one who has the most screen time and is more at the center of the story than everybody else. Still I must say I was a bit baffled by somebody like the stunning Anna Julia Antonucci expressing an interest in Heinze. Or her character in Heinze's character I should say. And finally the daughter played by Emde has her love struggles too. Sadly this character was written really poorly from that perspective. I mean they were trying to justify it because usually love life is a mess for a girl her age, but how she went from full anger mode because she had to leave her boyfriend behind to flirting with a church boy and finally dating a muscle kid (with the help of her brother) was certainly a bit on the embarrassing and unrealistic side.
Away from the romance, it is also a mediocre film at best. Heinze's character is the reason why they moved to Italy, so no surprise how he is at the center of it all. It did not feel too credible though with how his job is always a factor there, even if he is still officially on vacation. This includes for example the call from his boss in Germany. Now it would have been alright if this lack of realism would at least have been mildly funny, but it is all completely bland to be honest. So I don't know if this is a film that fails in terms of comedy or in terms of authenticity, probably both. The alleged cheating references with the Italian woman that enters the protagonist's life is also rather messy with the earring revelation. This is also deep into the second half of the film and you can certainly say that the longer the movie goes, the more they messed up. Stupid coincidences like said Italian woman showing up out of nowhere at a celebration are just one example. And the protagonist's job isn't any better at all. The connection to this Italian science expert was already shoddy from the very beginning and when they end up in this cave together and are eventually arrested by the police, it is just ridiculous honestly. Just like the quick addition how they were going on afterwards with further expeditions. By the way, if Heinze's character was a scientist or so or at least a journalist focusing on science, then how was he supposed to write an article on the Italian dairy industry. With no further knowledge on the matter, only because he was there? pretty ridiculous. Also at the very end we see the family celebrate Christmas and this is where I realized that even the title was a lie because instead of sumer it eventually depicted the family's entire stay in Rome. Oh well. Maybe I should stop writing and thinking about it because otherwise I realize that two stars out of five are way too much and two stars out of ten the right way to go. I'll be generous though today. I mean at least all the women were really attractive here: most of all Antonucci, but also Emde for sure and Schweins as well. I would say this is mostly a film with beautiful people, but not too much talent and if we take out Heinze (for whatever reason), then it is probably true. Admittedly, it must be said in the cast's favor that the script was so shallow most of the time that not even the most gifted European (or Hollywood) actors could not have made it work. Luckily they never made a sequel. This one here is one too many already. I give it a thumbs-down. Also for me it is definitely closer to failure territory than to a positive recommendation. All in all, it's just a weak movie I guess. Skip the watch.
Away from the romance, it is also a mediocre film at best. Heinze's character is the reason why they moved to Italy, so no surprise how he is at the center of it all. It did not feel too credible though with how his job is always a factor there, even if he is still officially on vacation. This includes for example the call from his boss in Germany. Now it would have been alright if this lack of realism would at least have been mildly funny, but it is all completely bland to be honest. So I don't know if this is a film that fails in terms of comedy or in terms of authenticity, probably both. The alleged cheating references with the Italian woman that enters the protagonist's life is also rather messy with the earring revelation. This is also deep into the second half of the film and you can certainly say that the longer the movie goes, the more they messed up. Stupid coincidences like said Italian woman showing up out of nowhere at a celebration are just one example. And the protagonist's job isn't any better at all. The connection to this Italian science expert was already shoddy from the very beginning and when they end up in this cave together and are eventually arrested by the police, it is just ridiculous honestly. Just like the quick addition how they were going on afterwards with further expeditions. By the way, if Heinze's character was a scientist or so or at least a journalist focusing on science, then how was he supposed to write an article on the Italian dairy industry. With no further knowledge on the matter, only because he was there? pretty ridiculous. Also at the very end we see the family celebrate Christmas and this is where I realized that even the title was a lie because instead of sumer it eventually depicted the family's entire stay in Rome. Oh well. Maybe I should stop writing and thinking about it because otherwise I realize that two stars out of five are way too much and two stars out of ten the right way to go. I'll be generous though today. I mean at least all the women were really attractive here: most of all Antonucci, but also Emde for sure and Schweins as well. I would say this is mostly a film with beautiful people, but not too much talent and if we take out Heinze (for whatever reason), then it is probably true. Admittedly, it must be said in the cast's favor that the script was so shallow most of the time that not even the most gifted European (or Hollywood) actors could not have made it work. Luckily they never made a sequel. This one here is one too many already. I give it a thumbs-down. Also for me it is definitely closer to failure territory than to a positive recommendation. All in all, it's just a weak movie I guess. Skip the watch.
