Der Wixxer (2004) Reviews

• nonsense humor at its best!!

  Arschminister992004-07-13

  "der wixxer" is a beautiful nonsense-parody of the edgar wallace-movies with joachim fuchsberger and klaus kinski... okay, the point is: you have to be a fan of this style of film-making, like the movies of zucker-abrahams-zucker (top secret!, airplane!..etc.) or the movies helge schneider made. so, "der wixxer" is not a film for everyone...but i laughed through the whole because it has some very good ideas (think of the dices in the harbor-bar!! hilarious!!!) olli dittrich and bastian pastewka are very talented comedians...and they could make "der wixxer" just with their faces, if you know, what i mean. nonsense rocks!!!

• What a disappointment

  derurs2005-02-14

  It took me quite some time to find out there are negative reviews for this film - I thought I might be on my own with my opinion. It does start off in a rather amusing fashion, the first seven minutes (which also include the starting credits) promise a funny spoof in the tradition of ZAZ films like "The Naked Gun". But then the realisation hit me that there is a major difference between ZAZ films and "Der Wixxer": In a ZAZ film much of the slapstick will happen in the background, something which does not necessarily have to be noticed the first time you watch the film but which is funny nevertheless. If Leslie Nielsen falls down some stairs the focus will stay on his partner who does not notice what's happening - the spectator can laugh at the slapstick without being drawn away from the main scene. With "Der Wixxer" you have similar hilarious elements being pushed right in your face - instead of rounding off a funny scene these elements get stretched (very thin) to become scenes of their own. *** Mild Spoiler *** For example a butler looking like Hitler dancing to David Hasselhoff's "Looking for Freedom" acts as a brilliant intermission from the Chief Inspector's verbal brawl with the main suspect. But to show him dancing for more than 30 seconds takes the fun out off the idea and makes it tedious to watch. Peter Griffin in "Family Guy" can pull off a stunt like this - unfortunately it did not work in "Der Wixxer" *** End of Mild Spoiler *** To sum it up I can only say: some genuinely funny ideas - but unfortunately not enough for a really funny film.

• Very enjoyable.

  lettielonglegs2005-02-26

  I thought I wouldn't like this , but it was surprisingly funny throughout and quite an original idea.The English names were particularly hilarious, as well as the somewhat familiar looking Butler.Obviously you won't know who all the actors unless you live in Germany,but that's not really vital information. You forget very easily that it's a foreign film as you get quite drawn into it. All in all it's one of the better spoofs that are out there now, compared to the Scary Movie trilogy whose writers seem to have run out of good ideas.It is well produced,with lighthearted humour and it makes a refreshing change from the usual Hollywood rubbish and I'm even thinking of getting it on DVD...

• Funny but not great

  nickhantke2004-05-23

  This movie makes fun of all the Edgar Wallace movies and some others like E.T. (again, guess which scene) or Silence of the lambs. But you notice that the authors really loved those movies and are able to pick out all the typical things that make these movies great. The actors are great especially Bastian Pastefka (who got extremely fat) and Hatler. The jokes vary from great to autsch but especially the first half hour is extremely entertaining. I thought by that now the Hitler-jokes would get old (all those brits faking a German accent - and doing it rather bad by the way) but here it is very well done with the butler Hatler. All in all good entertainment and a few memorable scenes and Jokes. 6 out of 10.

• A painful embarrassment

  Thom-Peters2006-08-22

  Do you have an "Uncle Joe" who always tells very dated and unfunny jokes and laughs a lot about them? Think of a meeting of a dozen of "Uncle Joes" ... Wouldn't you rather be anywhere else? I bet you would. I've been there, I've seen the movie "Der Wixxer", and it's been torture. The movie starts with a warning itself, with a scene featuring Anke Engelke, and therefore with something that's far worse than just bad acting. It will already make you feel sorry for everyone involved in this project. If you'd ignore this warning - you shouldn't! - you'd see a parody of the Edgar Wallace series, very low budget - well: cheap - German crime movies from the early 60ies that still get some admiration for their tackiness and camp value. Would anybody care to see a parody of "Plan Nine From Outer Space"? They've thrown in some jokes in the antique "Zucker"-style, references to the German TV, even an especially pointless one to "Silence of the lambs". There are lots of jokes, but they are all of the "Uncle Joe" variety. The sad thing about this is that some of the actors have shown real talent and humor in German comedy shows. Must have been the writers and directors fault then. Oliver Kalkofe, whose impression of an actor playing an inspector is simply ridiculous, has his own TV show, in which he's doing parodies on remarkably inane TV moments. Sometimes it's very clever and extremely funny, sometimes he's just insulting those involved as "stupid" and "brainless". Those people will love this movie, where Kalkofe doesn't only play the leading role, but has also co-written the script. Whatever they've done, this is worse. It's not unintentionally funny, but unintentionally unfunny.