Un prof pas comme les autres

My friends told me to watch it and I have been waiting for it on Tv and it finally came. Fine german comedy similar to Blue streak with great humor.

I watched this on recommendation of my twelve year son. First I had some doubts. I didn't watch the trailer before and I thought this could be a boring movie. I was wrong and I am surprised how cool and funny the school scenes were. Especially the young main actor did an outstanding job here. I am sure that we will hear and see great successes from him in future.

I agree with other negative critics here that they show some garbage moments. But it's only a film that wants just to entertain the young and adults. I think they reached this objective. See it, you will laugh very much and not forget for long time. 9/10.

The film is one of my absolute favourite films, but as some of you have already written here, you have to understand German. Subtitles just don't work, because the movie mostly uses vulgar expressions and a certain pronunciation that simply can't be translated.

I can honestly say I have never watched a German comedy before (Excepting Goodbye Lenin), but this was way better than expected. It's everything Bad Teacher could have been and more.

Firstly, it's genuinely funny - petty criminal becomes substitute teacher sounds weak but here the relationships and the script have a lot of zing and deliver.

Even though the arc is fairly by the numbers, the plot detailing is excellent, with fresh siutations and a strong romantic subplot. The cast are all on point and very likable, particularly the stars. All in all we liked it a lot - it's fun, consistently funny, has heart, and is definitely one of the better comedies of 2014.

If you've seen almost any German film in the past five years during a film festival that wasn't genre specific, you may have asked yourself: 'Geez, are Germans really THAT boring?' Well, be my guest if you did. And if you've seen a domestic German film in cinemas, you may have wondered: 'Geez, why are German actors so unfunny and stiff?' The answer to question No. 1 is: The German film industry runs on public funding and collaborations with public broadcasting stations, and the decisions there are made by politically affiliated men (and very few women) in their 60s. The answer to question No. 2 is: Acting schools are also usually public, teach drama courses geared for the stage, have a curriculum reduced to 18th century dramas and the occasional existentialist play which was hip in the 60s. Hence the gender stereotypes, old-fashioned themes and language, and - frequently - lack of coherence. Until 'Fack ju Göthe', that is (and apart from a few films by Faith Akın).

For this topic-wise not really interesting school comedy, following pretty much a well-trodden formula, not only became the commercially most successful German film of the decade - it's actually funny. The leads are actually hot. The acting's actually geared to the camera and not an imaginary stage. No matter how rampant the stereotypes may be, they do work with the story. No matter how silly the youth slang comes along at times, it is real urban speech. No matter how predictable the underlying social message may be - migrants, believe in yourselves, then you won't end up in jail -, it's not heavy-handed and doesn't kill the jokes.

That's because the writers, producers and the director are migrants themselves, and made this movie for an actual audience and not a public funding board. So not only is the enormous success of 'Fack ju Göthe' well deserved - it feels like a warm shower in an otherwise dreary, pseudo-intellectual German cultural atmosphere. If you want to watch a contemporary German film to see how people there tick, there isn't any alternative right now. Just don't expect anything super original or clever, just pretty solid entertainment - if the subtitles get the jokes right, or - better yet - you understand a teensy bit of German.