Alles auf Zucker! (2004)

Director:

Dani Levy

Writers:

Holger Franke (writer)
Dani Levy (writer)

Release Date:

6 January 2005 (Germany)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

An unorthodox comedy.

Plot:

A Journalist of Jewish descent in Berlin feels that he is a loser of the political changes in Germany after 1989...

Plot Keywords:

Dysfunctional Family | Ecstasy | Sex | Night Club | Brother Brother Relationship

Awards:

8 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Henry Hübchen	...	Jakob 'Jackie' Zucker / Zuckermann
Hannelore Elsner	...	Marlene Zucker
Udo Samel	...	Samuel 'Schmul' Zuckermann
Golda Tencer	...	Golda Zuckermann
Steffen Groth	...	Thomas Zucker
Anja Franke	...	Jana Zucker
Sebastian Blomberg	...	Joshua Zuckermann
Elena Uhlig	...	Lilly Zuckermann
Rolf Hoppe	...	Rabbi Ernst Ginsberg
Inga Busch	...	Irene
Antonia Adamik	...	Sarah
Renate Krößner	...	Linda
Axel Werner	...	Eddy Dürr
Gada Hammoudah	...	Janice (as Ghada Hammoudah)
Tatjana Blacher	...	Tatjana

Also Known As:

Go for Zucker (USA)
Go for Zucker! (International: English title)
Go for Zucker: An Unorthodox Comedy (International: English title)
Zucker (Germany) (working title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Singapore:M18 | USA:Unrated | Australia:M | Germany:6 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich)

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

X-Filme Creative Pool

Trivia:

Director Cameo: [Dani Levy]the pool player in the last scene of the film

It's not funny

This movie starts with the main character lying in a coma in a hospital ward, attended by two orderlies. The unconscious main character is heard in a voice over, saying that the orderlies are gay. The orderlies kiss. I watched this in a DVD version and I have the suspicion that this is supposed to be funny – it said „comedy" on the DVD case, after all and it goes on like that. Had I seen this in a movie theater I probably would have heard part of the audience roar with laughter, because it is so funny – and because they are supposed to sit in a comedy. While it is fascinating to think about what it is funny and what isn't, this movie unfortunately only delivers arguments about what isn't.

Brilliant brains can MAKE anything funny, people like Ernst Lubitsch, Billy Wilder or Mel Brooks have proved that fact. But you have to know the „mechanics", I suppose. Director and co-scriptwriter Dani Levy does not bother about those mechanics, he thinks that certain things simply ARE funny, the fact that two orderlies are gay and kiss over a man in a coma, for example. Do not get me wrong, some people can MAKE that funny, Dani Levy can't, not for me, anyway.

The main problem I have with this movie is that I can't see a reason behind the way the main characters behave. I could not understand why the two brothers, one an orthodox Jew from West Germany one a third class carbon copy of Fast Eddie Felson from former East Germany so strongly disliked each other. They are both rather bland characters. Their children are boring apart from the fact that they are sexually attracted to each other (well, one is a lesbian now but raises the daughter she has with her cousin). But even these incestuous relationships – if anything they are embarrassing - just come through as an excuse because the scriptwriters could not come up with anything better.

The acting is not bad, Udo Semel I actually came to like quite a lot although he reminded me more of ex chancellor Helmut Kohl (a lighter version) than of a venerable Orthodox Jew. The direction in itself is not really bad either, but maybe Levy should stick to directing movies, leaving the scriptwriting to someone else. Now I heard he did a comedy about Hitler. Oi, Vai!