Die unabsichtliche Entführung der Frau Elfriede Ott

This was on Austrian TV some months ago. For people outside Austria, TV is often the only source to see Austria films. In addition this was produced for the domestic market, as everyone is speaking in their specific dialect, which means this is one of the charms of this film to me. It is not a "sophisticated comedy" though, but still one where language is one source of enjoyment.

The title gives away what this film is about. And as it is a comedy, the ending gives itself. So, a perpetual student has not reported the death of his grandmother and is still claiming her pension and attendance allowance. As someone from town hall wants to congratulate her on her 95th birthday, things become critical. The student wants to "borrow" a sedated person from a hospital, but as he elopes with a famous actress, a lot crazy situations ensue.

Yes, it is some kind of crazy comedy. The humor is often rather blunt, but they never fall into the trap of vulgar overacting. It might have helped to trim the film a bit, as some jokes are repetitive. I am also sure that this film definitely will lose in translation. Some characters seem to have stepped out from a Seidl flick. Watch it to ensure yourself Austria also has mainstream movies.

This is not a funny film. It thinks it's funny, sure, and there's enough terrible slapstick in there to make anyone cringe. But it's "zany" in all the wrong ways. It's not merely bad dad jokes, but great granddad jokes! You know it's a bad sign when you're checking how much is left every 20 seconds. And when the ending finally comes around... ARGH! Rarely does a movie make me so truly annoyed. I was gonna give it a 4, but the last 5 minutes forced me to deduct several points. It's just sooooo friggin terrible you want to punch the screenwriter. ARG!