Harte Jungs

Wow. I thought, Eskimo Limon was the most awful and embarrassing first-sex movie ever. But I had forgotten that Germany always tries to compete. In this case, the well-known German film producer Bernd Eichinger was successful in producing even worse crap. Harte Jungs is stupid, not believable and predictable, and above all: not funny. It's almost a tragedy that so many kids went to see this in Germany (and, I'm afraid, also Austria).

Tobias Schenke, 19, looks too nice to have no girlfriend and too ripe to be 15, and his character is too dumb to be true. Schenke tries real hard to make us believe that he doesn't know ANYthing about sex, but that doesn't help. Harte Jungs seems to be made by someone who watched Al Bundy and took him too seriously.

The best actors in the movie are Sissi Perlinger and Stefan Jürgens who play Schenke's semi-liberal parents. Perlinger and Jürgens are stand-up comedians who are not particularly talented in movie acting. Still, their performances are the `best' and `funniest' in comparison.

A complete failure.

If that actually is the english title of the movie, I have to admit it is quite funny and maybe even funnier than the german one (Hard Boys - well innuendo and pun intended I am certain of it). Having said that and being reminded that this was Axel Steins debut movie ... this is quite a fun ride ... if you are not too squeamish and do not mind jokes that are considered offensive today.

Even so, when in the beginning our main character is being falsely identified as homosexual, the movie does treat that subject matter quite well all things considering. Yes the jokes are mostly below the waist line (I mean we're talking about a ... talking penis - or is it a Penis whose thoughts we hear? Do not overthink it) ... with some nudity to top it all of - pun intended.

This is not high class but it never pretends to be - it is also clear that the guy (Axel Stein) who pretends to know so much ... knows less than little when it comes to the opposite gender ... so you can be offended by the things he says or just roll with it ...

Indeed, perhaps the German version of American Pie. Same kind of confused, inexperienced guy likes certain experienced girl etc. Has a few friends who want to help out. Gets himself into a few 'laughable' situations. Thats where the similarity ends.

This film simply doesn't have the well-written edge and performances that American Pie does. You really feel for Jason Biggs, but certainly not for this guy. At 15, you also know he's not going to get some anyway. So where exactly is this going? It's highly predictable and there's no real character development here. As for his talking Johnson - well, what's the point of that?

The film desperately wants to be American. With the exception of the few buildings you actually see, you'd hardly know this was in Germany. (Plus the fact that the dubbed version uses American accents.)

As for the girl he ends up with? No way. Why why why?

I watched the English dubbed version, so I suspect some things may have been lost in translation. This however does not make up for an essentially dull and predicable story.

A few comments here are saying this film is good. I see they're all German/Hungarian. It's nice to be patriotic and support your own films, but seriously - if you've seen American Pie - give this a miss.

This was one of the first raunchy teen comedies I watched. I were in the first year of Engineering, and the VCD rental fellow recommended it as another American Pie. Me and my friends felt it was better than American Pie. Just watched the movie again last week and I have to say the initial perception still stands.

Agreed there is a lot of similarities with American Pie, but the film was much sweeter. Not as raunchy as American Pie. Also the story plot was much simpler. But still the film feels more personal.

Some of the lines in the movie was really funny. The performance by the leads and the bloke who played Red were pretty good. All in all Its worth a watch. I am really surprised by the low ratings of the movie.

It is often said, that Harte Jungs is called the German version of American pie, but in my opinion it is better because it is a german production. i think the film is very funny, and it is surprising how stupid flo is in this film. i think a boy who is fifteen years old couldn't know nothing about sex. it is very good that there is something like a happy-end.