This film here is a sequel to the previous Otto movies and in my opinion, it is the one where Otto's humor works best, also maybe the one that is written the best. Sadly, it is also the last so far. Waalkes is still a comedy legend today and in this film he just crossed the 50-year barrier. He still goes on big comedy performance tours to this date here in Germany. Actually, it is the fifth movie and was released 8 years after film number 4. Consider that there were only 7 years between films 1-4 you may think they ran out of idea, but actually I never felt that when watching "Otto - Der Katastrofenfilm". It did not reach the commercial success of earlier installments, but it is still funny.
The central female character here is played by Eva Hassmann, a longtime companion from Waalkes also in real life. They split up not too long ago, maybe because of the big age difference. This film, the first that is not co-directed by Waalkes himself, starts with Otto's birth and goes on with some Jesus/Moses references. I also liked the film's music. Otto sings quite a few classics (No Milk Today, Englishman in New York) himself here and I also liked his duet at the end with Hassmann (Something Stupid). The cast includes some known names. We have the young Wotan Wilke Möhring, Matthias Schweighöfer's father, Boris Aljinovic and Ben Becker - certainly more known names than in the previous movie where even the main characters where played by newcomers to the acting branch. Also it is the last performance by Tilly Lauenstein.
My favorite funny part was maybe when Otto tells a hooker that he prefers Frisian and her reaction afterward. I really laughed a lot there when she calls him a disgusting pervert pig. There's really some comedic highlights included here. Otto changes costumes quickly once again. He shows up as a woman, a captain, a cleric and a cook. And he also becomes best friends with a penguin while helping to catch a terrorist and keep him from carrying out an attack.
Also the good thing is you also do not need to see any of the previous films to understand what is going on as all the characters are new again, just like in films 2, 3 and 4. Except Otto of course. highly recommended.
The central female character here is played by Eva Hassmann, a longtime companion from Waalkes also in real life. They split up not too long ago, maybe because of the big age difference. This film, the first that is not co-directed by Waalkes himself, starts with Otto's birth and goes on with some Jesus/Moses references. I also liked the film's music. Otto sings quite a few classics (No Milk Today, Englishman in New York) himself here and I also liked his duet at the end with Hassmann (Something Stupid). The cast includes some known names. We have the young Wotan Wilke Möhring, Matthias Schweighöfer's father, Boris Aljinovic and Ben Becker - certainly more known names than in the previous movie where even the main characters where played by newcomers to the acting branch. Also it is the last performance by Tilly Lauenstein.
My favorite funny part was maybe when Otto tells a hooker that he prefers Frisian and her reaction afterward. I really laughed a lot there when she calls him a disgusting pervert pig. There's really some comedic highlights included here. Otto changes costumes quickly once again. He shows up as a woman, a captain, a cleric and a cook. And he also becomes best friends with a penguin while helping to catch a terrorist and keep him from carrying out an attack.
Also the good thing is you also do not need to see any of the previous films to understand what is going on as all the characters are new again, just like in films 2, 3 and 4. Except Otto of course. highly recommended.