Da muss Mann durch (2015) Reviews

• Going through (motions)

  kosmasp2015-07-21

  If you have seen "Mann tut was Mann kann", which is the movie this (and the character therein are) based on, then do not watch this. If you haven't watch the first "instalment" and stick with that memory of a really good movie/comedy. The first one felt fresh and had more jokes that actually worked. Not to mention an ensemble cast that actually felt like it was a group effort. This seems like a single effort, with added people (convienently so, if you don't mind the coincidences). It's so full of clichés that it does actually hurt watching at times. There are a couple of good jokes thrown in, but they are too few to actually make this work. The actors (and the crew I reckon) must have a good time though. They had a great shooting location. So at least someone got something out of this (unfortunately) unnecessary sequel

• A sequel nobody needs

  Horst_In_Translation2016-06-02

  "Da muss Mann durch" is a German romantic comedy movie from last year and the sequel to another German film from five years earlier. And if you thought American RomComs are already bad, then you need to stay far away from this one. The first was already pretty weak, and this second film is even worse. There were many moments, when I was tempted to give these 90 minutes an even lower rating. The writer and director here is Marc Rothemund and I find it shocking to see that this is from the same filmmaker like the Oscar-nominated "Sophie Scholl". Then again, he did not write the latter, so maybe he just needs to stick to directing. Also back here is lead actor Wotan Wilke Möhring and some of the supporting cast, even if Jan Josef Liefers for example is almost non-existent in here. The biggest weakness of the film is the most crucial aspect: the script. The movie is so desperate in cashing in with the new wave of German comedies starring Schweiger and Schweighöfer (not that most of these are really any good) that it completely lacks creativity and individualism. This is especially disappointing as Möhring is an actor with a certain deal of talent, definitely much more than Schweighöfer has, and he was so wasted here with his main character being really cringeworthy in the way he was written. But the worst thing are probably the melodramatic voice-overs, also in the way they were written, but also how off the mark Möhring is in delivering them. At least in his favor one could say that the supporting cast was not much better. There were really only very few somewhat entertaining or funny moments in here, far from enough for a full feature film. I won't hesitate to call this one a failure and I hope no third film will be made. This one here was already way too much. Stay away.