User Reviews

"Der Nanny", which means basically "Male Nanny" is the newest Matthias Schweighöfer film, once again written and directed by him as well, from earlier this year. He cast some of his pals (Tim Sander) and family (mother Gitta) as usual in his movies and co-lead Milan Peschel has also been in many of his films. This is also where I have the first criticism. Peschel's character is the title character, yet you never feel that Schweighöfer is not the star in this one, the main character. Now that would not be a problem if Schweighöfer was a somewhat decent actor, but he basically is the same in all his movies and I don't think he has any range at all, especially in terms of face expressions. Peschel is 10 times more talented, but it's difficult for him to shine here as well as you cannot turn a terrible script into gold no matter how good you are. Same can be said about the 2 child actors, who aren't bad in my opinion.

So, talking about the script: Yes, it is a mess. It is not Schweighofer's worst, that would still be the disastrous "Vaterfreuden", but it's not good by any means either. It is basically a weaker version of Til Schweiger movie scripts. This seems to be also the niche that Schweighöfer is trying to fill with his movies, the audiences, maybe slightly younger, that Schweiger aims at. But really, compared to Schweighöfer, Schweiger's acting and writing are a revelation. The sad thing is that people even go to theaters in big numbers to see Schweighöfer films, so you cannot even really blame him for not trying to change his style. A great perspective on what is wrong with German cinema. Actually, there is not that much wrong, just the taste of the people as there are many great German films every year that do not get 10% of the audience numbers Schweighöfer does.

Now, lets go a bit more into detail with this film here. The action is very predictable. And not in a good way sadly as it can also be the case. Of course they included stories of fathers who neglect their children and they are the actual reason why the children unleash on all their previous nannies. And of course, Peschel's character, a non-trained nanny, is exactly what the kids need and he makes a connection almost instantly. And let's not talk about the stupid, completely absurd reason why he even accepts the job. And the drama at the location when Schweighöfer's character enters the world of Pescheln's and they find out who he is. Or the oh so serious argument between the two, which is fixed instantly. Or how Schweighöfer's character of course makes up with him in the end and changes his whole attitude to work, his children etc. Or how he gets together with the woman working in the pub who is the good girl and not the nasty one that is linked to his business world. It's all truly cringeworthy, gooey and absolutely unauthentic. Sadly, this is the case for pretty much all of Schweighöfer's (comedy) films and this one here is no exception. Very fittingly that he gets people like Joko Winterscheidt (not an actor) and Veronica Ferres (terribly overrated actress) to play other characters. He does not look too bad actually next to these. And finally, another note on the general story here. The intention is to hire a nanny because Schweighöfer's character does not have the time to take care of his children. Then why is it, he is basically with them the entire movie? It completely goes against the purpose of having a nanny and Peschel felt so out of place sometimes I felt sorry for him. He is actually a good actor. Oh well, I guess it is because we won't forget who the star in this one is, who needs the most screen time. Bad movie, bad lead performance. Not recommended.