Klassikokkutulek

Unchallenging, and generally unfunny trilogy based on Danish origin. The Estonian script and adaption is dumb, boring and largely pointless. It hurts to say that the Grown Ups and it's sequel may feel like a masterpiece compared to this act. Seriously, who cares? The correct answer is, a lot, and then some. The first movie of the trilogy proved to be a hit in Estonian theatres. It started out with great expectations but was unable to deliver and grew unbearably annoying. Sadly, it also witnesses one of the worst character progressions one could ever see in Estonian movies

Three Middle-aged friends from school and further on, with different track records as well family status, going to their class reunion - it is a good benchmark already. And if the filmmakers are witty and sound enough to create a versatile story and employ versatile actors, then the success should be guaranteed. So was in Denmark (where the original script comes from), later in Finland, and now in Estonia when it was voted The Best Film in the Estonian Entertainment Awards and has become the 1st film with over 1 million euro ticket income in Estonia, exceeding e.g. Avatar and Ice Ages.

True, above all, this film is about "alpha" males and their attitudes, containing topics and depictions related to sexuality, health, hush- themes, and visions not considered modern and/or considered plain by several viewers, but, in my mind, there are no scenes one might consider really gross. Even the number of swearwords is smaller than in many "decent" films. There are dozens of scenes when you can laugh or giggle, in some of them due to characters or events in the background, and the performances are at least good, if not great (high five! to all three male leads who act without false shame; btw, both Mait Malmsten and Ago Anderson are no genuine comedians, but versatile character actors).

In general, I am not much into remakes and adaptations, but films like Klassikokkutulek deserve an exception here - you really need to identify yourself with the venues, characters and the actors-actresses you really know, in order to "absorbe" the events and jokes in full. So a famous Estonian screenwriter Martin Algus has provided substantial supplements to the original script - even if the Danes and Estonians are not so far and different.

The film was huge hit in the Estonian cinemas - of course, Estonians love comedies and when you have great dramatic actor Mait Malmsten, natural comedian Ago Anderson, and popular rap artist Genka (compared to others, his acting is little wooden, but he has great on screen charisma) in the mix then that is basically winning formula. It's based on a Danish film, which I have not seen, also I haven't seen the Finnish version. Considering how formulaic the film was, I don't think I need to see the originals either. The chemistry between three main protagonists were fantastic (again, another sub-bar Estonian film where acting is only department I don't have any complaints with). But the jokes were all old - nothing new, everything have been seen done better (or usually worse) many many times before (and before the Danes made their 'original' film). By the numbers plot about middle aged men trying to prove they are still wild and energetic doesn't offer much surprises. The whole film is carried by the chemistry between three main characters, and I wouldn't be surprised if most of the funniest parts of dialogue were ad-libbed or improvised by them.

The big plus is that there weren't any literal fart jokes in it like usually films like this tend to rely on them mostly, but on the other hand - the vomit and testicles were still in play.