Werner - Gekotzt wird später!

WERNER is a German comic figure created by Rötger Feldman a.k.a. "Brösel" that had its first appearance in a comic book in 1981.

The comics merge the very original experiences of "Brösel's" own youth with bikes ("Schüsseln"), beer ("Bölkstoff") and the sufferings and joys as a plumber-apprentice (in a northern-German handicraft business) with the constant use of an explicit, wonderfully direct and idiomatic language into comic experiences which best reflect crucial aspects of the northern-German "way of life".

The first movie hit the big screen in the early 1990s and was a huge success (and when I say huge, I mean HUGE!). I was in elementary school then and not a single classmate had missed this one...the songs of the soundtrack were enthralling for us and you could listen to them everywhere. The first movie had a strong "comic appeal", a sense for the typical humour that had already made the comic-books that successful. Everything (except the non-animated sequences thrown in between) was fine and in the right place: The animation was full of lovely details (including images of the landscape), the contents were imaginative, the voices including fine variations of typical northern-German idioms were a helluva fun to listen to (catching the edgy aspects of the characters), the soundtrack was rocking.

Then, in 1996 and 1999, the follow-up-movies nos 2 and 3 came out, and they sucked. Not that the animations weren't professional (indeed they were, also making use of new technical standards like the computer generated images)...but, well, these were not the edgy, sometimes ferocious adventures of WERNER the fans fell in love with. These films were more like a smoothed, a soft version of Werner that failed to create any kind of originality and atmosphere. I guess that it was a fatal mistake not to base those movies on any of the hilariously funny and anarchic comics. Just way too conventional (at least for my taste)...

After 2 and 3, I had up to no hope for the 4th installment of the series, thinking it could only get worse. This was the first WERNER I had not seen at the movies, but waited until it was aired on TV.

To my big surprise (and against the opinions of many of the critics), this was not a new mess destroying the monument of WERNER, but a movie very much in the vein of the first one: Anarchic, powerful, full of punning!!! The figures were allowed to be themselves again, to behave more reckless, to drink beer and vomit if necessary, to disregard any tempo limits and also the laws of gravity...Yes, this was WERNER again, not a smoothed clone as in episodes 2 and 3. This was the original character again.

To sum this up: Everyone who liked the first movie will like this one, too. Give it a chance, you'll certainly be rewarded.

The fourth cinematic installation of the Werner series of Comic Books, which I personally anticipated most eagerly, did just what part three did - it disappointed. Although based on one of the best comic books in the entire series, it simply lacks the anarchistic style of any of the books, and that is not even mentioning that it has the same cineastic flaws that part three provided with. The storyline is not as catching as in part two, the directing doesn't create the kind of suspension or amusement that some scenes are simply cut out for, and the jokes (some new, many gathered from other comic books) appear watered down. Read the books or enjoy the second film, this one only barely manages to rise above the third one. One of the properly most eagerly awaited parts of the film, the second period of the infamous football game (or soccer for our American fiends), which starts the film off, doesn't match the sheer hilarity of the first period and is mostly just a combination of fecal jokes. As usual, Meister Röhrich makes his apearence as the most incompetent plumber in sanitation history, but you notice it for what it is - without Werner and Eckart around, his appearances thrown in every now and then, he is just filler for a script too short for an entire film.

The animation, heavy on computer animated elements, doesn't meet the high standard set by the otherwise simply bad third film and gives the animation a most inconsistent look.

While the second film was sheer brilliance, the first film was too hilarious and anarchistic do deserve worse than part two, Gekotzt wird Spaeter only barely manages to beat Fäkalstau in Knöllerup. I hope, and I pray, that there will be another film, ideally with a story as great as in Volles Rohr, equally good directing and animation - but considering that only one week after it's start, multiplex cinemas moved Gekotzt wird spaeter into the smallest theaters in the house, with the evening shows starting at kid friendly times before 8pm, that is doubtful. The final chance for Werner's greatness on the screen, what could have been the finest moment for the series, has been wasted.

To be honest, I did never read one of the comics and cannot remember part 2 and 3 at all. I can compare to the first part (Werner - Beinhart) and this one here is really disappointing, compared to part1 as well as compared to most other movies I watched the last weeks. The first minutes seam to be just a needless clone of the first movie intro and then it is becoming even worse. There are a few good (funny) scenes, but in total it is just another boring second-rate try of German film industry that cannot succeed (nearly as usual). One good thing: The movie is quite short (75 min.) The bad thing: It only contains story and jokes for 45 Minutes ;) -> Don't watch it

I watched Werner - Gekotzt Wird Später today and enjoyed it a lot. This time the theme was all dedicated to royalty, in old tradition drinking beer, riding on hot motors, messing up at work and causing trouble wherever they appear. I liked it and can recommend it.

First of all: I didn't like the animation. These days, all the animated movies are filled with computer graphics. While this can be perfectly implemented in the movie and look great, this doesn't apply to Werner 4. All the rendered stuff (i.e. the "modified" car) is in sheer contrast to the rest of the animations and backgrounds. This takes away some joy of the animation for me.

The movie starts with the second half of a soccer match which was the biggest laugh in the first movie. While I can still rotfl watching the "first half" in the 20th rerun on tv, I didn't really here: It's just a carbon copy from the first movie.

After the soccer sequence I was a little bit disappointed, and for some more minutes nothing made me really lol.

However, just when I thought I had wasted my money, there was one killer joke after the other. Okay, they were really low, but some times I had really problems to breathe between laughing.

My rating 7/10 (movie starts kinda slow but then gets hilarious)