Sällskapsresan

"Jak kan flyga. Jag är inte rädd."

Stig Helmer (Lasse Åberg) cements his status as lovable nerd in Sällskapsresan (1980), a goofy lanky man who never quite stopped being a shy boy. His nickname is "The Giraff" and he always ends up saying the wrongs things. Although this film is one of many in a series of cult comedies starring Åberg and his band of eccentric friends, it is the funniest and most memorable one. If you live in Scandinavia, you will have seen it a dozen of times and if you have grown up in the typical Swedish way, you will have laughed at it even more so.

Sällskapsresan sees Stig Helmer and his Norwegian friend Ole Bramserud on a charter-trip to the Canary Islands. Stig Helmer is asked by his doctor to deliver a package to a friend of his at the destination and oblivious to the fact that it contains 50,000 SEK, Stig accidentally loses it at the airport and a hilarious mess ensues. But this little criminal detour is not what is funny about the film. The many laughs come from seeing Stig Helmer's clumsy and naive ways juxtaposed to the sleek jet-set style of the pretentious travel guides.

What elevates Sällskapsresan (1980) and its sequels above generic comedy formula is its brilliant, clear-eyed use of Swedish clichés. Everyone who is a child of the 1950s-1980s has probably been to the Canary Islands at one time or another and encountered the silly tourist things that are present in this film. Here they are overblown and hilarious, but still subtle enough to get us to identify with them. The whole film is really extremely realistic, as are all its stereotypical characters. A real classic.

8.5/10

"Selskabrejsen" as it's called in Denmark is absolutely the best comedy I have ever seen. Stig-Helmer and his Norwegian friend Ole are fantastic together. The different Swedish characters in the sunny south are individually extremely funny in a this-could-really-be-true way. Just let me mention the drunk and his friend. Their "Ra-da-da-da-da!!" and swinging their fingers every time they see a chick is classic and almost impossible for myself not to copy. The friend turning the drunk every half hour in the sun as the drunk himself is unconscious all the time is another example. The guide, the "bad guys" ,the nerd .... Nobody is "filling up" but has his or her own funny story to tell. I have seen the film at least 5 times and every time, it's as funny as the last time. Even now 26 years after it's release. A true classic.

Sällskabsresan 2, in which Stig-Helmer and Ole travel on a skiing vacation in the Alps is almost as good and very recommendable.

One of the truly greatest (and perhaps most genuinely Swedish) comedies ever to have graced the silver screen. Magnificent in just about every detail...

This is a cult comedy classic. The best comedy movie ever produced by the Swedish film industry. Stig H. Olsson is a character that everyone in Sweden knows, he's charm and neediness is extremely well done. And this vacation comedy really has is all and will go down in the history book as the best Swedish comedy ever made.

`Sällskapsresan' is a genuine situation-comedy with hilarious characters, how truly are Swedish stereotypes. By seeing this movie, the international public can get a real good look how Swedish people behave themselves (or at least used to) on charters. As the main characters we can se Lasse Åberg and Jon Skolmen. And they probably makes there best performance of there life's. Every minute of this movie brings us something laughable. Just sit back and relax, with a exotic drink in your hand, and enjoy this simple, wonderful film how makes you feel great the rest of the day.