Shake It All About

Spoiled want-it-all Jacob wants to marry his male partner Jørgen, but happens to fall for Jørgen´s brother´s wife, leading to many hilarious situations and poignant moments. Actress Hella Joof´s directing debut has laugh-out-loud comedy and sensitive drama in equal measures, with excellent performances by the three leads, Mads Mikkelsen as Jacob, Troels Lyby as his long-suffering partner, and Charlotte Munck as the girl who gets between them. Gay stereotypes abound, but performed by a talented cast, with Peter Frödin and Nikolaj Steen as standouts. Film has its share of flaws and doesn´t quite steer clear of romantic movie clichés, that airport-set denouement just doesn´t ring true, but the film is so appealing that you probably won´t mind. Written by the director and actor Klaus Bondam (who appears as a priest with a red-dyed porcupine haircut) For Danish viewers: Look for an unrecognizable Lars Hjortshøj as an alcoholic and Zlatko Buric as a cab-driver. Be sure to stick around for the end credits and check out the Polaroid snapshots for one final hilarious punchline involving the identity of "Sørmand"! ***

The premise is good, the actors excellent and the music score well chosen. It is a really hard try to achieve something really sympathetic. So why does it fail on most levels? The main blame must lie with the script. First, it is not funny! And with a romantic comedy that must be close to a deadly sin. There are a few chuckles, but otherwise nothing. Secondly, the characters are rather badly drawn. I have no doubt that they are meant to be extremely interesting, but their behaviour are absurd most of the time because we never really get to know them properly. We are thrown into the plot head first without any background to who they are and what makes them tick. Like a previous reviewer wrote, this film is filled with supporting characters, including the main protagonists! The female doctor is the only REAL person who manages to make a REAL impression, but she only has about a minute of screen time. As to the actors, they really try, but I am not convinced that they agree which kind of movie they are in. Charlotte Munch seems to think this is some kind of serious relationship drama and responds accordingly, looking troubled in almost every scene. Mikkelsen and Lyby have no chemistry whatsoever together and one wonders what they saw in each other in the first place. The usually excellent Mikkelsen seems unhappy about the whole thing and manages to look bored with BOTH his man and his woman. Lyby is the one actor who comes off the best. He is the most sympathetic in this "comedy" and responds to his plight with some kind of normal reaction. He is sweet guy with a whole lot of emotions and also some sense of humour who really deserves someone better and more focused than the guy Mikkelsen portrays. Other than that we get a gallery of more or less eccentric people who bend over backwards to get a laugh from the audience, but fail at every turn. And then there is the ending!!!! Pleeeease, take it away!! I suppose it's meant to be heartwarming but it only comes across as phony and ridiculous. But it is not hard going despite all my reservations. You can watch it if there is nothing else to do, it will cause you no pain...but nor will it stay in the memory for longer than one minute or so! Loved the score though...

I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie, which in some ways probably helps. Going in with absolutely no expectations about any of the performers (or the director) may have helped make my experience more enjoyable.

The best thing about this film is Troels Lyby, who seems to have hot on just the right combination of humor, sadness, realism and indecision for "Jorgen." Particularly good is the scene where his friends try to cheer him up as his partner packs up to leave. His slow disintegration during lunch is an example of really good acting. He never lets his character get too maudlin or too "I'm putting on the cheery face for you" (as an American actor would have done).

Mads Mikkelson, however, is nowhere near as good. His "Jakob" seems mopey, bored, angry and closeted. Where is the thrill of finding a new sexual partner he's obsessed by? The script clearly calls for that, but Mikkelson never really gets the audience to believe that Jakob is truly fascinated by Caroline. Mikkelson seems to be just going through the motions in so much of the movie. One could say that Jakob is deeply conflicted by his sexual and emotional attraction to Caroline; hence, the sullen acting. But I just don't buy that. The script never calls for that explanation, and Mikkelson doesn't bring it off anyway.

Peter Frodin as the outlandish Frederik is your stereotypical hysterical queen. But he brings it off without offending us, becoming obnoxious, or turning Frederik into a cardboard cut-out. (His scene where he describes his angst over "Sailor's" refusal to come out of the closet and love him is really quite good.)

Less effective is Charlotte Munck as Caroline. In part, this is due to the material she has to work with. I never really felt that Caroline was suffering that much in her failing marriage to Tom (Jesper Lohmann). Sure, Tom is never home. But Caroline doesn't want another baby anyway, and Tom being home would increase the pressure on her. So why does she turn to Jakob? The whole movie hinges on us believing that Caroline and Jakob really share a deep, festering obsession with one another. But the film never goes there, and as a result half the movie (anything to do with Jakob and Caroline) just doesn't work that well. (Munck, however, is superb in the Swedish skating-rink scene. her physical acting and facial expressions really convinced me that she was finally, truly happy.)

Jesper Lohmann is given even less to work with, and as a result his Tom is just a caricature of the work-a-holic husband. (It makes absolutely no sense for him to be the salvation of Jakob and Jorgen's marriage. It's a cute ending, somewhat along the lines of "Flying Down to Rio." But it makes no sense.)

Watch for superb bit performances by Morten Kirkskov and Henning Jensen as the super-fag married couple (particularly their two scenes mid-movie, one where they are horrified that Jakob has turned straight and one where the "ugly secret" of their marriage comes out). Oskar Valsoe is really good as the lone straight (?) man in the bunch, without falling over into supercilious liberal guilt (as so many American films would push the character).

The editing is just superb, and the cinematography at times really reaches for your heart. The soundtrack is very good -- when it is there. It's too bad there wasn't more if it (a la "Muriel's Wedding" or "Boogie Nights").

And okay -- so the script at times falls into triteness. Jorgen loses an eye after driving drunkenly through the night after hearing Jakob's confession. Like we didn't see that one coming! (After "The World According to Garp," this is just too, too common a story-telling trick.) The ending, too, is just far too pat. The inclusion of the horse was just so bookend-ish, it really pushed the conclusion far beyond acceptable storytelling limits. But overall, this film is rather good. I had a very pleasant time watching it.

I can't believe I live on the same planet with people so stupid and so stunted emotionally that they can like or even tolerate this movie - but the evidence is right here, all around me on this page. It's mind-boggling.

I've seen thousands of movies, and I've seen hundreds of gay movies, and this is BY FAR the most offensive and infuriating movie I have ever seen anywhere. The only way I can explain it is that the people who like this despicable movie MUST be straight, and therefore unable to help being morons.

Any gay man or lesbian, or any transsexual or otherwise non-straight human being who likes this garbage must despise themselves. There IS no other possible explanation.

This is one of those slick commercial movies - like Brokeback Mountain - made about gay people but made BY straight people and FOR straight people so that they can feel good about how liberal and open-minded they are, while producing such a warped and depraved image of what non-straight people are really like that they are only deepening and reinforcing their already deplorable ignorance of what it means to be different.

I cannot tell you how much I hate this movie, but I hope I've managed to give you at least a vague notion of how I feel about it.

To quote the Bard, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." It is inconceivable that a movie like "Shake It All About" could be filmed, let alone marketed, in the 21st century. The movie's only nod to the current status of gay rights in Europe and North America is that its heroes plan to get married. But no mention is ever made of AIDS or condom usage. The secondary gay characters are a kaleidoscope of stereotypes that might have been acceptable 20 years ago in "La Cage aux Folles", or 30 years ago in "The Boys in the Band" -- but not today, in the 21st century. For pity's sake, the film even fades to lavender between scenes!

My friends and I hooted and hollered our way through the screening, shouting out catty remarks, which the picture rightly and amply deserved. A jilted bride walking down the street in her wedding gown drew a reference to Rhoda Morgenstern's wedding (remember that?). And the sight of two gay men riding horseback together reminded us of the "Welcome to Condom Country" ad campaign of the AIDS Committee of Toronto, Canada. I couldn't help adding, "That's the only stallion that was ridden in the film!"

I think "Shake It All About" deserves the title of Best Film ... of 1973. I left the film, somewhat shaken that such claptrap can still be served up in the name of gay comedy -- but not at all stirred.