Manta, Manta

"Manta, Manta" is lame and embarrassing in so many ways. What kind of derelict comes up with the idea of making a film about Manta obsessed German villagers and actually allows the hero to drive around in a pink, blue and yellow car? "Manta, Manta" is so cringe-worthy that it will give you wrinkles. And yet, I simply can't get enough of this addictively stupid, piece of crap. Even the ridiculous soundtrack is a guilty pleasure.

"Manta, Manta" represents the cinematic debut of Til Schweiger, after his run on "Lindenstrasse". He plays Bertie, a Manta driving idiot who challenges a Mercedes driving yuppie to a race, much to the annoyance of his peroxide blonde girlfriend, Uschi. Uschi, in turn, is asked to take part in a wet t-shirt competition by a Ferrari driving stranger who mistakes her for a prostitute as she waits for the bus. The plot becomes even more ludicrous when Bertie's friend Gerd falls in love with a radio reporter on an anti-Manta crusade.

This film is the reason why I became a Til Schweiger fan. He displays some of his future potential and definitely looks like a movie star, but his performance here is dreadful to the point of being hilarious. Bertie's drunken trip to the anti-Manta radio station is a fantastic low in modern German cinema. It's amazing to see how far Til has come since this trash - well, with the exception of "Driven", which is really "Manta, Manta" with better cars but without the charm.

In addition to the chance of watching a young and clueless Til, the movie also offers some great car chases and some of the worst fashion ever captured on film. I am fully aware that "Manta, Manta" is utter crap but that has never stopped me from enjoying it. Fans of bad movies and undiscerning rev-heads will be glad to have spent 87 minutes of their time with Bertie and his loser friends.

I watched a different Manta movie a while ago, thinking it was going to be this one ... I was wrong, which I realized while watching the other one. It is quite inferior to this one. While this also has characters that are hard to sympathize with - and calling them silly would still give them more IQ credit than they deserve, this can be fun to watch.

I was especially surprised about how good Til Schweiger is in this one ... I don't usually praise his acting work ... then again, the "role" seems to be destined to be played by someone like him, so I guess it was a good fit. Manta is a car that many people made and still make fun of ... and you can see why, when you watch the movie ... but they are also people - the ones driving the car that is! So sit back and enjoy the craziness ... if you can.

So first of all, what do people expect from a car tuning/racing comedy from the beginning of the 1990s? I hope not, Francis Ford Coppola worthy acting and family dinners that drag on for half an hour. Take it with a grain of salt, for what it is.

As part two , which I never expected, just hit the streaming services (in this case SKY), I felt like watching the original, to prepare. And it paid off well. Being born in 1980, the first film was part of my youth and we watched it a couple of times, having drinks and laughing about it all. What I did not remember, was the deeper sense of it, and Klausi being the not obvious hero.

Honestly it is not an eight star movie, but considering the bad reviews and harsh words that it got by some of my peer critics, I felt like being generous.

An absolute cult classic for anyone from a german speaking background born around the time.

Thanks for the memories really.

Manta manta is one of the funniest films I ever saw. The film is a parody description of a parallel world that has existed in Europe in the eighties and nineties. And may be still: It's the world of Opel Manta drivers, of man called 'Mani' and blonde women, often hairdressers called 'Ushi'. All sharing one passion:

OPEL MANTA

This film is probably only worth watching if you're from Western Europe. If you're not from there you miss the main point of the movie, portraying and maybe even exaggerating stereotypes.

The car the movie's title refers to, the infamous Opel Manta, is a car that has achieved cult status in Germany and is according to the general opinion mostly driven by 'socially unadjusted' people. Then again, if you look at the movie in a deeper perspective it might have a little more to it. You could see it as a movie about people with ambitions, (the mechanic that goes to university), setting your priorities straight (the main character that decides not to enter the race when he hears his girlfriend is pregnant) or about character (the 'loser' type that wins the final race).