Helden des Polarkreises

One of Dome Karukoski's earlier films and certainly one of his funniest, Lapland Odyssey is essentially a catastrophe road-trip movie. A deadbeat man living in the months long night of Lapland gets an ultimatum from his wife. Either he gets her the digital television adapter he has been promising her for ages, or they're through. And he only has until the morning to do so. The only problem? It's already late evening, he has no car and the nearest all-night electronics store is hundreds of kilometers away.

From that basic setting we end up getting one of the funniest Finnish films I've ever seen. And I think the reason why I found this to be so funny, when Finnish film humour usually does nothing for me, is the fact that the characters take it so seriously. For the man and his two equally deadbeat friends this is truly an odyssey. They're on a quest to save to man's marriage and they will go to extreme lengths to achieve their goal. No winking at the camera, no forced jokes, no pop culture or modern events references. Just great characters and them getting into trouble.

The film is also beautifully shot, well-acted and features some stunning shots of winter Lapland. If I had to name one problem, I'd say that the Finnish stereotypes can be a bit forced from time to time. Oftentimes they're the best source of humour in the film, but from time to time they wander into groan territory. Still, a very minor problem in the grand scheme of things.

Lapland Odyssey is certainly worth a watch for all fans of comedy and for all those that have liked one of Karukoski's other films.

Oh, wow. This ending is one of the finest I've ever seen. Absolutely brilliant. The movie Hangover has clearly been riding along when Pekko Pesonen typed this madness down. His scenes are seriously over you, like a group of killer bikini chicks. Very nice. At first I thought I had walked into an exhausting exercise in endurance of sole stupidity, but then I realized my mistake. These buddies are in fact in a confused state of mind due to unemployment. Hence mentally crippled and do the best they can. This is a very unfortunate clarity blunder, but otherwise director Dome Karukoski's movie is a master class in consistency. Much thanks to Jussi Vatanen's believable laid back style.

I thought it was going to be a hilarious comedy, Hangover style - with stupid, but believable characters and comprehensible plot. Instead it was a mess to watch. The actions of the morons made no sense. Their personalities were unbelievable. Maybe if they were completely stoned, but they weren't! It wouldn't have mattered much to me if the situations they found themselves in were funny, but I couldn't even laugh at them! I kept waiting and hoping for the film to get better, to resemble the trailer I saw... I should have known better.

...just read the (unfortunately few) positive english reviews they are basically right and more eloquent written than mine. Good fun, good laughs with friends or to cheer you up alone,including un-predictable story turns hence will keep you watch it to the end, what does one want more?

The setting in middle finnland with its grim long dark winter but people totally used to it added a bit of insight how things can be up there (I've been there).

These negative english reviews (among the very few english ones in total (11) even now in 2022) bug me a bit, as there are sooo many reeally (really!) bad english films/comedies around and whe there's a foreign one, they let rip - why not relearn to laugh a little about "simple" jokes again?

This is one of those films that provide enough set pieces to pay off the simplistic plot. The film grows more outlandish by the minute and even when you think it is about to go on the straight and narrow, it takes another bizarre turn. Is it a genre defining movie? No. It is a movie that ticks the boxes and is fun in the process. Likable characters and a crazy plot allow for a film that is going to divide the audience. I enjoyed it.