User Reviews

"Mein Schwiegervater, der Stinkstiefel" is a German television film from 2015, not entirely unknown as you can see from the fact that the number of votes here on imdb is at least in triple-digit territory, so this one is over five years already now as it came out before the holidays season back then, so still relatively at the end of 2015. Like most other small screen releases from my country, this movie has a running time of minimally under 1.5 hours and the writer and director here was Sven Bohse. He was still in his late 30s at that point and honestly his body of work was nothing special. I mean he even directed a "Ein Sommer in" movie and these are almost always terrible romance trash. So with him in charge of both key production areas here (not too usual for German television, normally it is different people doring writing and directing), you expectations should certainly not be too high. And even if you manage to keep them low, the outcome here will still be mostly on the disappointing side. Admittedly, Bohse managed a bit of a breakthrough immediately afterwards with the Ku'damm miniseries, but I have seen the first and I don't understand the praise at all I must admit. Nothing special at all and the writing there is occasionally as poor as it is here from what I remember. Now back to this film we have here. You see the pretty famous lead actor Michael Gwisdek on the photo and next to him is his female co-lead. As for Gwisdek, he is no longer alive, actually died this year in his late 70s slightly over three months ago. And he is an actor who was also on many, many occasions despite his popularity more of a supporting actor than a lead actor really and this is also what he won a German Film Award for not too long ago. But it is not really uncommon that the most famous German actors when it comes to theatrical releases here and there show up on the small screen too. I mean not Brühl or those who really had an international breakthrough, but for example Ganz (okay he was not born in Germany), Klaußner and Gedeck did the same not too long ago. Oh well, kinda hurts to compare Gwisdek to the two guys here at least, but you know what I mean. In any case, in terms of Gwisdek, with his recent death, it felt kinda awkward on one occasion when he said something like "over my dead body!" because it is the sad truth now. As for the German title, it is a bit difficult to translate. It basically means "My father-in-law, the old sourpuss". That feels accurate, so a swearword included there. This is said from the perspective of the woman on the right in the imdb photo. Mai Duong Kieu is an actress that I cannot say a lot about. Not familiar with her, but she is pretty stunning. I see she was in Bad Banks and I know this is a series that received strong reviews (uniting there with Tom Schilling, who played with Gwisdek in "Oh Boy" and that is the film and performance that won him the German Film Award), but Duong Kieu also acted recently in "In aller Freundschaft" and honestly that is a really terrible series on the level of GZSZ. Only that it is set in a hospital. So I am still undecides about her. May need to see more, but if she is smart, then she gets away from "In aller Freundschaft" asap if she hasn't already. Okay, back to this one here again. The rest of the cast includes several other familiar faces, even if you maybe not always remember the name. Simon Schwarz is always easy to identify and the only question is if it is him or Johann von Bülow I suppose. Palfrader and Morreis also have a certain recognition value. Murr I am not sure, but it fits he is in this film with his last name and the last word of the title that feels pretty similar. He is quickly out of the film anyway. I initially thought that it could have been nice if Gwisdek's son Robert could have played the part, but it would have been a waste I suppose. I like Robert. More than his dad. Okay, so much for the basics here. And even if I am not a huge fan of this film's title, I am really glad they did not go with "Scheiss auf Reis", the working title. That one is really cringeworthy and dumb in terms of how the were trying really hard to establish a funny (well, "funny") connection with Asia.

As for the story here, you can see from the title of my review that I felt this had quite a few parallels to the Eastwood movie "Gran Torino" from a few years earlier. However, everything that went right with that one (and I like it quite a lot), went wrong here. It is so cringeworthy. I mean I am sure that I was not the only one who thought so. Old grumpy man gets in touch with young Asian woman and eventually also her peers to some extent, even if there is not major elaboration on any of them, except the small Asian boy perhaps. But a car also plays a role in here, albeit not a truly big role. The weakest moment, when it really felt like a truly poor parody honestly, was when these boys show up with the intent of attacking, perhaps raping, the girl. Or I should say woman. She is older than she looks. Of course, Gwisdek's character shows up with a gun quickly and chases the little thugs away. Clint is so badass. gwisdek is the exact opposite. I do not even blame him. I guess Bohse lied to him that he could make it work. But the opposite was the case. I almost had to look away. That's how poor it was. The acting of the old man in the end gifting something to another character was also kinda typical. Just like the male protagonist's health issues when here and there he was on the ground and clearly suffering. So the longer the movie went, the more I wondered if Gwisdek's character would make it out alive. It did not seem like it at some point, but honestly I did not care one bit, also because it was easy to see how they tried so hard to make people care, but did not deliver the talent or creativity to make the emotion work. Not one bit. And then there is Schwarz's character. I guess he only accepted to play the part because in the end it was a good and kind character and he also had some guts with his speech inside the church. How convenient that the leader of these thugs was the son of a police officer. Sigh. The irony. As for Schwarz though, I thought it made no sense at all. I mean what exactly has the behavior of the townsfolk to do with his profession. That he does not want to be one of them anymore? That's the best explanation I can come up with, but no idea why the Church is linked to all of that. Then again, maybe it's best to not even try to understand this mess. The very end, namely the closing credits sequence, with his character is also a prime example of how much they go over the top and we see him party hard now in his new life. The priest letting it all out. I doubt that would have happened in reality. What surely would not have happened in reality is Gwisdek's character warming up so quickly to the Asian woman. I mean look at how he talked about her at the very beginning. Even if we accept the young man's death as realistic, then in 99% of the cases it would have happened that the woman returns home. Or at least stays on bad terms with the male protagonist. I mean come on, her even accused her directly of killing him. He sends her away during that mildly touching music sequence at the funeral etc. But here he accepts her, begins to like her and even protects her. The reason that thay are bonding with each other to protect the man's inheritance from the evil ex-wife is definitely not explanation enough. Besides, it feels hard to believe that the deceased was really so close and happy with the ex-wife that they got married. Not in a million years. Often these films stand and fall with the main antagonist and while I think she was not one of the worst aspects of the movie, she also did not elevate the material. The only moment when I kinda liked what I saw here was when it went over the top in an absurdly funny way, like the dead guy in bed with the big smile in his face or there is a scene when one harrasses the woman and she hits him and there is a little play on words with "to come" in the sense of getting somewhere or having an orgasm. I am not even sure if it was intentional because the writing is so bland on other occasions. Anyway, that was fine. And there are two or three other moments that could be from those movies that also include Schwarz and in which he plays Birkenberger, dark crime comedies. But these scenes are the exception really. Everything else is weak and forgettable and the movie takes itself so much more seriously than it has any right to. Maybe you will nto find it as terrible as I did if you like Gwisdek more than I do. But for me he does almost nothing and I found it almost a bit annoying how, even in this film we have here, they had to get in some GDR references because lighter historic movies are his niche in terms of acting and he has been in many of these films. So yeah, this was not a good watch. It's a massive thumbs-down from me and I highly suggest you skip this one. Not even the over-the-top moments like the ex-wife's fake grieving early on are entertaining. Let alone realistic. Absolutely not recommended. Pretty shameful this will be on national television for the entire 2020s probably and this is where the people's GEZ money goes. What a travesty. Even when they are bold enough to include guns and sex (okay nothing graphic), it feels all for the sake of it and never smooth like in international movies, especially American and Scandinavian. Now, as a Scandinavian film, this could have been a lot more fun. But there shots would have been fired for sure. German television is way too scared for that. Oh and finally, the sequences of how the two met each other in Asia and spent time with each other there, were also edited very poorly to be a part of this movie. And the main antagonist's projecting of her own at least morally despicable behavior on the female protagonist was not any better. So yeah, stay far away.