Lammbock (2001) Reviews

• A brilliant comedy, not only for stoner's

  suitram2004-08-03

  This film breaks the boundaries of the 'typical' German film, creating a whole new genre for the German speaking film. It is a film full of catchy lengthy dialog, which is dominated by the very funny character Kai. The film deals with the issue of being cool, and how you present yourself towards others. Kai is very observant of this fact, constantly judging other peoples actions and commenting on these. Whilst doing this he comes up with new wild theories, which are highly entertaining ranging from Baywatch actresses breast implants, to golden goal theories. His partner in crime is fed up with his lax attitude to life and the aimless life he leads. He himself though is also never happy with what he is doing, always complaining that he's wasting his valuable time doing nothing, but never realises that this is his own fault. His attempt of studding law seems pretty vague and half-hearted and remains a grey area throughout the film whether he is ever going to complete it. Spun into these issues of the main characters, the film shows their new innovative and highly lucrative business plan of distributing cannabis products through their own pizza delivery service: 'Pizzaria Lammbock'. This business of there's goes extremely well allowing them to lead a relaxed and carefree life. In their new found 'paradise' they become careless and too trusting, ultimately letting in an undercover cop in their little secret. Turning their environment and that of their friends into a hostile terrain. The two weed mongers don't find out what kind of mess their in until its all too late, and the undercover cop comes out of the closet!!! What follows then after is a desperate fight to come clean of their deeds which are now not only drug possession with intent to distribute, but also a lot of other things have heaped up on their shoulders. Yet the serious situation the two main characters are in and how they manage to deal with it, by no means lowers the entertainment level, varying from extreme laughter to suspense and surprise. Whether their encounter with the police, leaves them behind bars, or just makes them turn over a new leaf, or indeed leave them unchanged remains the little incentive to learn German and then find out for yourselves!!!

• little black comedy about life and growing up

  Christian_alternakid2001-08-28

  I don't think it is justified to diss Lammbock because of a) "toilet humour" or b) low moral standards. It's a funny movie, which demonstrates the problems of growing up instead of making a pure comedy out of it. There may be some harsh scenes, but in no way are they dominating the film. instead the movie treats its characters with honesty and doesn't sell them for a cheap joke, which you can see in so much "growing-up"-comedies: it has a certain warmth at his heart. It is indeed a german attempt to make an "earnest Tarantino-style" -movie but Lammbock doesn't even try to hide these facts - it is in some way a homage to Tarantino-style dialogues.

• A great movie!

  Spaceant2001-09-11

  I think that Lammbock is one of the best movies ever about dope. If you don't like dope you will likely think that the dialogues are boring and the film is lame - if you have ever liked cannabis, you will laugh loudly about the funny dialogues and the great humor. No, I am not saying that you would have to be stoned to see this movie, this movie is just one of the very few realistic drug-movies. Well, the story isn't realistic, but the atmosphere is. I think that is it, what makes this movie so great, it has managed to catch the atmosphere like it would be in a real smoke-inn. In most cannabis-related movies (i.e. saving grace, cheech&chong, half-baked) , the effects of this drug are pretty unrealistic, the users are described as stupid, brain-amputated, mumbo-jumbo-bubbling monkeys and many of those have this "drugs are bad"-morality. Not so in Lammbock. The users are normal people, some are crashed, most aren't, and they behave pretty much like real, pot smoking people (well not WHAT they do, but HOW they do it). The acting is just great! Lammbock is free of morality and thats good - I want to watch comedy to be entertained, not to be educated. Well, there are some scenes I didn't like either (i.e. how they treated the forest-worker), but that's not the humor of the whole movie and it doesn't spoil the film! This movie gave me back my faith in German comedy!

• not your average stoner comedy ;-) (spoilers)

  gvf2004-10-18

  This movie is by far one of the best Independent-ish ones I have seen in a long time. Very fresh, original look at a genre where you would think that they've just about done it all. So there are these two potheads who grow their own weed (...and lots of it - all in all a field of well over 250 square feet, well hidden somewhere in the woods). They operate a run-down, back-alley pizza delivery service which really just serves as a cover for selling their weed to customers. You order a "Gourmet" pizza and they will put some weed on it, wrapped in aluminum foil and carefully hidden under a big sausage slice. Business goes well until they're in for some bad luck... one of their newly-acquainted friends turns out to be an undercover cop, and one day while they're at the field, they get caught by a forester. From there on, it's all just hilarious mayhem. What makes this movie so refreshing are the dialogues, for one thing, and the storytelling in itself. As can be seen in an interview on the DVD with one of the main actors, the idea with the dialogues in the film was to a great extent to improvise rather than clinging to some script word-by-word. Moritz Bleibtreu (Kai) and Lukas Gregorowicz (Stefan) are REALLY good at this in their two lead roles- they are hilarious together and make it look more like real-life buddy talk. And especially Kai talks a lot of nonsense while "under the influence" ;-) The storytelling with its numerous sub-plots is very well done. Just a bunch of things that most "twentysomethings" can relate to in one way or another. Stefan is almost out of law school and is worried that all the dope will keep him from studying hard enough for his finals. And then his ex-girlfriend walks back into his life and he really wonders if he should leave his current girlfriend for her. Kai on the other hand has trouble dealing with Stefan's little sister who is coming on to him... and so on. Rent or buy the movie, watch it, watch it over and over, and you will probably never get tired of it!!! I don't know if this movie will ever be available on the Anglo-Saxon market, but if not, you'll definitely be missing out. ****1/2 out of *****

• Great stoner-comedy even though it has some uneven moments

  t_atzmueller2014-01-25

  Stefan (Gregorowicz) and Kai (Bleibtreu) are best buddies who run a rundown little Pizzeria named "Lammbock". However, rather than Italian delicacies, the customers tend to order their home-grown Marihuana, which is hidden under a leaf of salami. While Kai is your typical Stoner, content to smoke until the end of his life, Stefan comes from a more rigid, upper-class background and tends to worry about his examinations to become a lawyer (and getting caught smoking by his stern father (Wepper). Other than that, the duo is concerned only with their marijuana-plantation in the woods, getting stoned, playing video-games, getting stoned, talking trash, partying with their friends-slash-customers and, well, getting more stoned. Trouble arrives when. Trouble arrives when their plants are infected with parasites and they seek aid from smooth-talking Achim (Weigend), who just happens to be a young, ambitious underground-cop. Let me say first of all: I'm not the biggest fans of many of the actors in "Lammbock". Especially Bleibtreu, who for a while was hyped as movie-star and Wotan Wilke Möhring, later hyped as protagonists in crime- and action-films have a rather limited acting-range, examples that almost anybody can learn how to function a piano but many will never become master-musicians. However, for their roles in "Lammbock" they fit like fists in gloves. The movie often has a very witty dialog and incredibly funny scenes, that makes it sorta a German mix between "Dazed and Confused" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". To mention a few highlights would be Möhrings performance as stoner suffering from Tourette's syndrome (making ever second word from his mouth an unintentional obscenity), a scene where Gregorowicz is forced to swallow some highly potent hashish and then attend a formal dinner with his father's colleagues or a policeman (himself a pothead) who lectures future underground-cops. There are some uneven, even unnecessary subplots and plot lines, especially those involving Stefans little sister Laura (Zielcke), her Aids-test, a potential liaison with Kai and of course the infamous "unintentional incest"-scene, which go nowhere and add nothing to the movie but time. But those moments are few and far between and take nothing from the overall quality. What separates "Lammbock" from many similar-themed films – say, for example, the Jay & Silent Bob or Cheech and Chong flicks – is, that "Lammbock" is rarely over the top or some overblown parody and shows the protagonist as people easily can relate to, be they friends of this kind of horticulture or not. It's not like in the mentioned Cheech / Chong films, where you simply know that the duo will escape while smoking the largest joint since Bob Marleys last birthday party, but rather, it keeps the viewer rooting for our "heroes", even fevering along with them (especially in the last quarter of the movie). Word of warning though: some of the dialogs will make little sense if you're not familiar with the German background in which the topics take place and if you've never been out with your buddies, smoking the "hooch", well, you might not get the point in the first place. Other than that, I'd call it one of the best (if not the best) stoner-comedies produced in Germany (where possession generally carries a hefty fine, possibly jail, social discrimination, etc, etc). 7/10