Coconut Hero

It's Mike Tyson, not that Mike Tyson. He's 16, a white kid in the small town of Faintville. He shoots himself in the head but fails to die. The gun is filled with blanks. Sadly, he's already bought an obituary notice in the papers and he is even more of a laughing stock. He prays to Jesus to be dead and his doctor tells him that he has a brain tumor. It's a new lease on life as he can't wait to die. Then he meets Miranda.

This is cute and a fun way to tackle death. The father is a bit of a dud. I thought we were going to do more with Miranda. It needs to stick with her and skip the dad. Instead, we have a very convenient road trip. They need a few more connecting conversations before they get to the road trip. Maybe he should not be suspended and have more scenes in the school. I like the weird kid and I like his death wish. Not all of it works but some of it does.

Thought this movie was interesting, and actually well thought out.

Don't want to give much of the movie away besides to say, give it a go.

The cinematography I thought was pretty good, as well as the acting.

Too many movies lately have no soul about them or even a story line.

This was one of those movies which would probably watch a few times again.

The story was believable, touching and interesting. Would definitely like to see more from this director and the writers did an amazing job.

I gave it 9 stars, because of it's originality.

Give it a go, it is worth watching.

Thank you for this movie, you have done a fantastic job.

Didn't anything about the movie when I started watching it, and glad that I watched it.

I'm not good at writing reviews, but seeing as how this movie does not have many reviews so far, I thought I'd contribute one.

The lead, and the sole person this movie was mostly about, Mike Tyson comes off as an interesting character, sometimes in an endearing sort of way. The movie shares with us his quirky persona, and by the end shows what may be a little, but particularly important growth in Mike as a person. The interactions between Mike and his mother, as well as other minor characters were fun enough to watch.

While some people might be turned off by this movie seeing as there's not much going on, and that the plot was not heavy, I thought it is enjoyable enough as far as coming-of-age movies go. Even the ending was OK with me, because it was sort of a happy ending, but not over the top/cliché.

How can a most entertaining story become a hackneyed mess at the end?

In "Coconut Hero" Mike is a bit different than the other teens his age. He's a critical thinker, a realist, and having this type of insight into life at his age can be, and is, a confusing state of mind. He's the only one in his school that has not been absorbed into the group thinking that is so part of being accepted by others. And being accepted by others is most important in teen years. So Mike decides to end his life although he does not appear to be depressed. His attempt fails. But the aftermath of this attempt at suicide brings the feeling of liberation to him.

Director: Florian Cossen and Writer: Elena von Saucken portray Mike as a comical innocent, he is an only child of a hair dresser divorced mother with a brash no-nonsense personality, and the school counselor and therapist seem at at loss in how to deal with him because he is so non-threatening and reserved. Then the dance instructor Miranda enters Mike's life. Along the way Mike's father shows up! Mike absorbs sound bites from a minister and a funeral director. All these bits and parts don't quite fit together for him.

Here's where the story starts to fall apart. Mike leaves home, striking out alone, destination - whatever. By chance Miranda just happens to be in need along a deserted road and Mike comes to her aide. Here the story becomes a cliché and the viewer can certainly figure out what's about to happen. Mike gets his wish but with an unexpected twist. All ends happily - for the most part!! You just spent an hour and twenty minutes watching this story, you will like and care about Mike, Miranda is a plus for all involved and then the writer takes a 'soap opera' turn in the story and for the next fifteen minutes you must suffer a confusing montage of Mikes life! The end.

I do not want to give away the details in this movie because I really liked it! But the ending was such a letdown! It's a wonderful story but golly why that ending?

Difficult subject matter, and nice/decent effort to make it feel light and refreshing somehow. There are quite a few quirky/strange things that are happening here, that are weird to the point they can be taken as light entertainment. Which is never easy when it comes to the subject matter of suicide.

The main actor said he didn't try to concentrate on the fact that his character was suicidal nor did he think that that was the case. How else could you find humor in something like this? And while this walks the thin line nicely, there have been better movies on the subject matter. Still a nice try with some more than decent acting and a nice story overall.