Review of Toni Erdmann (2016) by Greatmartin — 17 Feb 2017

The movie poster hails “Toni Erdmann” the funniest German comedy you will ever see while a few critics add ‘3 hour’. What was the last funny German comedy you saw? What was the last 3 hour funny comedy you saw?

At the Gateway Theatre in Fort Lauderdale they have a section where audience members can post cards with what they thought of the movie they just saw and I put “Awful—even worse than “Neruda”—see my review of Tuesday February 7th.

In a running time of 2 hours and 45 minutes I found a total of 6 to7 minutes that got me to smile and in those 6 to 7 minutes, maybe 2 minutes, which were old fashioned slapstick making it seem like a comedy.

The film is primarily a daughter, Ines, played by Sandra Huller, and father, Winifred alias Toni, played by Peter Simonischek, story. The father is a child who never grew up and the daughter a workaholic always wheeling and dealing, a lot on the phone, and having to put up with the sexism of the work place.

Winifred puts on a wild wig and uses false teeth to bring some fun into his daughter’s life whether it is at the workplace where she seems to play along in order to avoid embarrassment or in what little private life she has. The film takes that 2 hour and 45 minutes to show the results.

There are a couple of full frontal/rear male/female scenes with one really generating a good laugh but if you think watching a guy masturbate on a petit-four or another one sitting on whoopee cushion is funny than maybe this movie is for you.

“Toni Erdmann” does have a couple of touching scenes but what film dealing with a father and daughter at odds with each other doesn’t?

It is only the 7th week into the new year and I already have 2 of the worst films on my yearly list.