manusman

After "Budbringeren" (1997), the expectations have been really high for Norwegian director Pål Sletaune's next movie, "Amatørene". When he last year refused to direct the fantastic "American Beauty" because "the screenplay wasn't good enough...", one could start to wonder what the heck was going on. But even though "Amatørene" isn't nearly as good as the American Oscar winner, it's really a good movie, with entertainment value high above an average Hollywood comedy. I'm one of few Norwegian filmfreaks who haven't seen "Budbringeren" yet (I was going to, but then my VHS tape got stuck in the player, so too bad...), so my expectations were on a comfortable low level. There were no way I could possibly be disappointed, and I wasn't. On the other side, I was very positively surprised. But in fact, the only reason I saw the movie, was because a friend asked me. Without him, I think I would just have let it passed, so I'm glad he asked, 'cause that would have been a shame. No I just have to wait until "Budbringeren" is shown again on TV.

**** out of ***** from me.