I Kina spiser de hunde

Hit action comedy from celebrated writer Anders Thomas Jensen and director (and former stuntman) Lasse Spang Olsen. Put-upon Arvid is left by his girlfriend, and when he manages to foil a bank robbery with a squash racket, his life goes from bad to worse, getting involved with hardened criminal brother Harald (the excellent Kim Bodnia, tough and hilariously deadpan). Perhaps the highest body count of a Danish movie ever (Arvid accidentally wastes entire rockband Red Warszawa with a machine gun), film suffers from occasional amateurish stunts, but is peppered with Jensen´s terrific dialogue, and a what-me-worry approach that is very rare among Danish filmmakers. Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Tomas Villum Jensen make a great comedic duo as the reluctant body disposers, who just want to be cooks. Framed by a strange supernatural story that is so politically incorrect that you can´t help but laugh out loud. *** (of ****)

I am always a bit shy when it comes to laughing out loud, especially when i'm alone, but this movie has almost therapeutical qualities. In the beginning i was a bit astonished about the sheer and unexpected brutality that occurs quite sudden after a very soft entry. But pretty soon i realised the twinkling in the author's eye, and i started to laugh 'til i almost fainted. The dialogues are captivating, the characters convincingly weird and Arvid's decline follows some unforgettable kind of crude and funny "inevitabilism". This is the funniest actioncomedy i've seen for years. Refreshingly different, astoundingly perfect. A true recommendation not only for friends of the genre. I will buy it on Video or DVD, my highest private ranking.

... they would have apparently created a similar works, at least in their youth. Also here, a series of crazy and violent events with "ordinary" and "mad" people involved are triggered by a small short-term event. The things will never be the same and all characters have to review their values, approaches and problem-solving methods. Solutions are often damaging and/or fatal, although the outcome is not anticipated (however, using a narrator and its role in the very ending are witty and distinct). The cast is also strong and catchy, Kim Bodnia and Nikolaj Lie Kaas, above all; the latter's recurring line "We are only cooks!" makes you always giggle.

The only question I wanted to raise throughout the film: what about police, journalists - or sometimes even witnesses? So many tough-rough acts and no response from them at all?

Still, recommended if you like twisted action comedies with fine performances.

This is one of the greatest danish action movies ever! The characters are both cool and funny (especially the two chefs) some of the humour you probably have to be danish to understand, but the action is international. This is a movie that showes that Denmark can kick butt in the action genre. SEE IT - and the sequel!

I have seen both IN CHINA THEY EAT DOGS and it's prequel, OLD MEN IN NEW CARS, and I have to say that this is the best of them. Where OLD MEN is a little more formulaic and recognizable as an average crime comedy, CHINA has fantastically bizarre elements that surprise and alarm. It's amazing how comical death can be if handled in the right way.

The film does bring up genuinely philosophical questions of right and wrong that, in my household, spurred interesting discussions about morality vs. social norm.

By the end of the film you most likely will be thinking about the same things and hoping that in your last hours you too will be able to avoid the men in the funny pants.