Munje!

Everyone should watch a film like this.

Unlike Hollywood cliché comedies, this is something new. Something original.

In almost every minute, something funny come out and not just funny but very intelligent so you literally cry of laughter in some parts.

Every character is unique also, and for me that is very important. In a way, this film represents the night life of an average Serbian teenager.

I like this film because this is a true Balkan humor and one of those films I could watch over and over again.

Well, you're not bound to be from Serbia to like the film, i'm from the neighboring Bulgaria. I find the film very fresh, and though the story ain't much, the script and dialogue are great. I even understood something like half the film only by listening and not reading subtitles :) (figures, our languages are not so different after all...) But the thing that I totally loved was the music. Since the film is mainly about 2 guys who try to break in the scene with their drum'n'base rhythms, the OST ought to be gorgeous, and it is, with a good mix of styles btw :D

What else can I say? The film is a must-see for every fan of the street/underground culture.

When this movie arrived at the cinemas in Serbia, it was a great hit. Its success came mainly because it came after a bunch of socially-themed dramas and peasant comedies that still flood Serbian cinematography. So, "Munje" came as a big relief at just the right time.

The movie is a laid back, urban comedy about two best friends on a wild night in the city. It can be thought of as a mix of "Kevin and Perry go large" and maybe "Clerks II", only on a tighter budget. Most of the main actors are well-known names in Serbia, and there are a couple of new faces that got more bigger roles after this movie. Although the acting isn't great, and the flow of the movie gets choppy at few points, altogether this movie is easy to sit through the whole. You won't be rolling around laughing in tears, but the movie may give you an occasional chuckle, a few nice one-liners to remember, and will leave you in a generally very positive mood.

I would like to mention that there's an unofficial sequel to this movie called "Kad porastem bicu Kengur", made by a very similar film crew.

Yes, "Munje" is basically a piece of crap, but at least the scruffy-looking pseudo-hippy ultra-nationalist Fascist-Marxist (wtf!?) Maradona-hugging "poet" Kusturica had nothing to do with it. Pew...

This was the runaway hit in Serbia when it came out, breaking all sorts of records. The truth is, however, this: 1) Serbian audiences, while just as critical/picky as any nation when it comes to foreign productions, are VERY easy to please when offered the latest cheap locally-made crap. (Patriotism? Serbo-Croatian language bonus? Who knows...) 2) "Munje" came out after a long string of Serb movies that were political, heavy-handed and depressing. "Munje", on the other hand, gave the crowds something to relax to, being the kind of movie you can almost throw in the "Porky's" category. Hence the success of the movie, which came out at just the right time, should be taken with a grain of salt and not raise hopes too much.

Personally, I had no hopes as I prepared to watch it. Serbian cinema, like that of most small nations, is rather weak, especially the junk that's been released here in the last decade or so. "Munje" has no plot to speak of, but this is not a problem. The problem is that it's supposed to be a comedy yet simply isn't funny. It may be grin-worthy on several occasions, but the dialogue and some of the acting verges on the amateurish, a lot of both being very forced. Sergej Trifunovic, who is treated as a kind of Sean Penn or Edward Norton in Serbia, has very little charisma and absolutely no talent for comedy whatsoever. (I can already hear the screams of protest...) He is a little nepotistic preppie - a major reason why Serbian movies suck as much as they do. Whereas in Hollywood the occasional nobody can make it big now and then, in Serbia absolutely no-one can break into movies unless they have very fat (family) connections. (And no: I am not a struggling, bitter actor.) Trifunovic seems to force the role to suit him, and ends up being fake. Plus, he's too old for the role. Even worse is Maja Mandzuka: a cute girl, but with the acting ability of a goat lost at pasture (yes, another nepotist). Her monotone voice will put you to sleep quicker than the mostly lame gags. You wouldn't be blamed if you thought she was reading her lines straight off an auto-cue.

Boris Milivojevic is dull, ditto Zoran Cvijanovic, Djuricko has charisma but his role is crap, so that leaves us only with Glogovac as the only actor here who seems to know what he's doing. (Alas, he has a small role.) The stunningly beautiful Danijela Vranjes appears far too briefly to be able to redeem this turkey.

The much-praised soundtrack is forgettable, with the exception of Vroom, who briefly provide some much-needed energy.

There is a reason why so many people in Serbia and the other countries of ex-Yugoslavia watched this film. There is also a reason why i doubt that many people who are not from that region will understand it.

This movie is authentic to the extreme in showing the world it is set in. The language, the situations, character backgrounds make the characters seem like people you could easily meet on the street; if you live in Belgrade that is. If you live somewhere halfway across the world they will probably seem like unrealistic badly-portrait freaks.

The cast is a combination of old and proven actors, young inexperienced ones, and one soccer player. The older part of the cast did it's job to the point of brilliance (Cvijanovic, Djuricko) while the younger part of the cast did so-so. The former "Red Star" striker turned out to be a horrid actor, but fortunately his on-screen time is short. The story, although not particularly developed, is developed enough to carry the jokes, which are good and well paced.

The bottom line is that this movie is entertainment, and not meant to be a deep and preaching film like so many others that have come out of Yugoslavian cinematography in the last decade. It has also managed to skip every mention of war and post-war issues, which (sad as it may sound) is a big refreshment. And it also has an excellent soundtrack (taglined "the first Serbian soundtrack").

The recommendation: If you live in Yugoslavia or thereabout, you've probably seen this movie (if you haven't - go see it). If you live somewhere far away, and left Yugoslavia in the last 6-7 years you might still like it. If you left before that you won't have a damn clue what's going on. You have to know the generations that grew up in the late 80's and the 90's to get this. If you've never been here, you probably won't understand this film, and therefore will probably dislike it.