"Hausbau mit Hindernissen", which roughly translated means "Obstacles when building a house", is a German television film from 2017, so not a really new movie anymore and also not an old one although the latter may be true in case you read my reviews many years from now on. The director is Till Franzen, who was already really experienced by then because he started shootings films in 1990, but had long gaps of inactivity on several occasions. Still, given the fact that he began with movies 30 years ago, he is still relatovely young today. However, the one who is really young here is writer Sarah Eßer. Back in 2017 she was in her mid-20s and now she is still not even 30 and if her body of work here on imdb is correct, then she wrote her first screenplay (or co-wrote) back in 2005 when she was 13 or 14? Surprising stuff. Also she was a child actress who appeared in front of the camera before the age of 10, but that career it seems is really not a priority now for her. Sadly, looking at this film here and also other stuff she did, I am not sure if she is that talented. I think looking at the cast here, there was definitely more possible quality-wise because we have several actors that you frequently also see on the big screen. Katharina Schüttler is an actress I always like, even if she has a bit of a tendency to play very similar characters in highly different movies. She gave maybe the best performance here. Her male counterpart Hans Löw is also always easy to identify, although I must say that I was a bit disappointed with him here. He had two or three weak moments and he was better in other projects I saw him. Then again, this may admittedly also have to do with how his character was written. Still, nobody forced him to accept the role. As for the kids, I cannot say too much. the girl was maybe better then the boy, so I am a bit surprised that she has never been in a film before or after this movie again while he is enjoying a prolific acting career still. The elderly characters are played by the very experienced Winkler and Franke. they are not bad, not particularly good either I'd say. Maybe Franke is better, but his character is also more realistic overall, so Winkled had the bigger challenge. Oh yeah, Olli Schulz is in this film too and I found him pretty unlikable. No surprise though as he is constantly hanging out with the little leech Böhmermann. That would be all for the cast.
As for the story, the title is at least pretty decent and summarizes the film nicely and I have seen way worse from German small screen releases that were entirely generic, especially when romance is involved. However, the two protagonists are already married right at the very start of the film and the challenge is for them to move to a bigger home with their kids. So they find out what it means to own a house and be confronted with all the challenges coming with it. The premise is alright. Sadly, the paths the film takes eventually are pretty weak overall and feel very fake and cringeworthy. The first example would be the grumpy old neighbor who has his own tragic story involving his son of course, but hey finding the family's boy skipping school makes him a kinder person again. And not only does he find out about this "crime", but also about the boy stealing something from another pupil/student, not sure which applies, it's pretty close age-wise. The basically exact same story involved the family's daughter as she manages to breathe new life into an elderly female neughbor who won't leave the house because she has to take care inside of her sick husband. That is what you think initially at least. Eventually, you find out the man is dead already, has been for a while and was hidden and buried. But not a crime or anything. This plot inclusion and twist are basically the main reason why I think this is a terrible movie, not just a weak one. So ridiculous and unrealistic, also that nobody notices that something was wrong when they picked him up. And how Schüttler's character was playing along eventually. Honestly, this could have been really funny if the two elderly neighbors indeed would have turned out as evil, but of course this never was in the books for this movie. Would have been way too daring anyway. This film plays it safe and lacks inspiration and wit altogether. Also the end, with all the misery going on minutes earlier, is entirely happy and Schüttler's characcter even verbally tells us that "they made it", so we really understand 100%. And of course, the two elderly characters kiss then. I mean who cares that a few days earlier they were still struck with grief for their son or even partner, but hey let's still give them a romance plot no matter how little sense it makes. It is really such a mess. Also the pseudo dramatic moments of the husband injuring himself, the wife getting a rushed-in potential alcoholism story, the man suffering a potential heart attack, the patient struggling because of Schüttler's character's negligence resulting in a life-or-death situation etc. felt all fake and for the sake of it. No surprise at all that they did not pull through with any of these. Nothing about this film feels real, especially not the character developments from the two old people. They just would have gone on with their irsolation and grumpiness in reality. Besides, if we look at the two central characters, the younger ones, it also must be said again that it is really embarrassing how women are always depicted as more likable in these films. With that I am mostly referring to how Löw's character acts towards the other old man and his goats. Speaking of goats, I love these animals, but not even their occasional inclusion made this movie work for me. What was up with this potentially dangerous situation when the goat approaches the boy, but is totally kind towards him. Sigh. So much pseudo drama and make-believe here it is really disgusting. This is a film that premiered at the best television slot overall back in 2017 and it is cringeworthy that this is the quality they are giving people for prime time. What is even more cringeworthy is that ARD literally forces people to pay fpr thos garbage and not just one or two bucks permonth, but a significant double-digit amount. Unacceptable. Completely unacceptable. Back to this film, close call between horrible and just weak for me, but overall (especially with the corpse situation) I must be going for the former. Fat thumbs-down. Highly not recommended.
As for the story, the title is at least pretty decent and summarizes the film nicely and I have seen way worse from German small screen releases that were entirely generic, especially when romance is involved. However, the two protagonists are already married right at the very start of the film and the challenge is for them to move to a bigger home with their kids. So they find out what it means to own a house and be confronted with all the challenges coming with it. The premise is alright. Sadly, the paths the film takes eventually are pretty weak overall and feel very fake and cringeworthy. The first example would be the grumpy old neighbor who has his own tragic story involving his son of course, but hey finding the family's boy skipping school makes him a kinder person again. And not only does he find out about this "crime", but also about the boy stealing something from another pupil/student, not sure which applies, it's pretty close age-wise. The basically exact same story involved the family's daughter as she manages to breathe new life into an elderly female neughbor who won't leave the house because she has to take care inside of her sick husband. That is what you think initially at least. Eventually, you find out the man is dead already, has been for a while and was hidden and buried. But not a crime or anything. This plot inclusion and twist are basically the main reason why I think this is a terrible movie, not just a weak one. So ridiculous and unrealistic, also that nobody notices that something was wrong when they picked him up. And how Schüttler's character was playing along eventually. Honestly, this could have been really funny if the two elderly neighbors indeed would have turned out as evil, but of course this never was in the books for this movie. Would have been way too daring anyway. This film plays it safe and lacks inspiration and wit altogether. Also the end, with all the misery going on minutes earlier, is entirely happy and Schüttler's characcter even verbally tells us that "they made it", so we really understand 100%. And of course, the two elderly characters kiss then. I mean who cares that a few days earlier they were still struck with grief for their son or even partner, but hey let's still give them a romance plot no matter how little sense it makes. It is really such a mess. Also the pseudo dramatic moments of the husband injuring himself, the wife getting a rushed-in potential alcoholism story, the man suffering a potential heart attack, the patient struggling because of Schüttler's character's negligence resulting in a life-or-death situation etc. felt all fake and for the sake of it. No surprise at all that they did not pull through with any of these. Nothing about this film feels real, especially not the character developments from the two old people. They just would have gone on with their irsolation and grumpiness in reality. Besides, if we look at the two central characters, the younger ones, it also must be said again that it is really embarrassing how women are always depicted as more likable in these films. With that I am mostly referring to how Löw's character acts towards the other old man and his goats. Speaking of goats, I love these animals, but not even their occasional inclusion made this movie work for me. What was up with this potentially dangerous situation when the goat approaches the boy, but is totally kind towards him. Sigh. So much pseudo drama and make-believe here it is really disgusting. This is a film that premiered at the best television slot overall back in 2017 and it is cringeworthy that this is the quality they are giving people for prime time. What is even more cringeworthy is that ARD literally forces people to pay fpr thos garbage and not just one or two bucks permonth, but a significant double-digit amount. Unacceptable. Completely unacceptable. Back to this film, close call between horrible and just weak for me, but overall (especially with the corpse situation) I must be going for the former. Fat thumbs-down. Highly not recommended.
