This comedy by main character Atle Antonsen, playing the character Truls Paalsen (obviously named after the Norwegian Olympic gold skip Paal Trulsen) was quite different from what i expected. It was much funnier!
Watching it on the premiere night in the cinema after reading some mediocre critics mainly giving it three out of six stars, my expectations wasn't the greatest, though I know the type of humour Atle Antonsen is an exponent for. This film has been much awaited, and I really can't say that I didn't really enjoy the whole 80 minutes of it. And I wasn't alone, with this. The audience in the theater had a good time and lots of laughs.
The story? Not important, obviously, since this film is carried by sketches. But it goes like this: Pålsen and his team was the best, until Pålsen got psychic problems with oversizing details. 10 years after he's getting out of hospital, and finds that he has to save his heavily smoking mentor with a costly lunge transplant abroad. The way to do it? Make a comeback and win a million.
It's kinda difficult to explain the visuals of the movie, but it gives a plain, but still colorful kind of seventies style, though this story is supposed to be much nearer in time. It's odd, quirky, weird and outrageously funny. It reminds me of some of films by the likes of Pål Sletaune ("Budbringeren"), Bent Hamers ("Eggs", "Kitchen stories"), Cohen- brothers ("Fargo", "Burn after reading"), Harakld Zwart ("One night at McCools") or maybe Aki Kaurismäkis ("The Man Without A Past") or films like that, but still it's way more crazy. Obviously Cohens "The Big Lebowski" has been a great inspiration as well, taking the sport curling on the same ride as the dude did in that great Cohen-classic.
There's a great cast of comics doing their small parts, everyone doing it great. Actually Atle Antonsen is not by far the funniest, but he keeps the film together. It's not a perfect film - no to be that it loses out on the climax and maybe also direction. But the gags and characters is funny enough to make me feel sad I didn't get to see more.
Great humor, great characters, great filming, not so great story - but still one of the best Norwegian comedies ever. I think some quotes from this will live on forever. Well done!
