Lasse & Geir

Lasse & Geir is an instant classic! It is so crappy made, with obvious errors and bad acting! But why should that matter, I can't believe that the budget has been more than renting a camera and buying some effects. The scene in the start of the film, on the bus, is so extremely funny that you almost die! Nice film to watch with some friends after a couple of beers! Many people don't like it, but give it a shot, and maybe you will laugh your ass off! (You can be sure I did!)

*Critical

*Stupid

*Funny

A textbook Norwegian kitchen, 1970's style:

A working-class father hurls abuse at his wayward, elder son across the dinner table: "WHY AREN'T YOU OUT THERE LOOKING FOR A JOB, YOU IDIOT!" Mother pleads with father to keep the peace.

(The menu: Stew, with jello for afters.)

Father doesn't like jello. He yells: I DON'T WANT THIS, I WANT FOOD! FOOD!! Father accuses mother of wasting his hard earned cash on "dessert". Mother is anxious and tearful. Elder son defends mother. Elder son hits father. Father and son starts fighting. Mother breaks down in a torrent of tears. Younger son looks on.

Sounds pretty bleak for an evening's light entertainment, eh?

Except that this is a film by the famous Wam & Vennerød, and they never fail to make things funny, cool and entertaining. Even in a piece of socialist cinema like this, the laughs come hard and heavy. This may well be attributed to the dialogue, which is almost always over the top. (and WAAAY down the other side of the hill!)

You see, Wam & Vennerød pride themselves in never using the subtle approach.

They are the masters of "overstatement". Invariably, their message is hammered home in conversation which is hard-hitting but utterly, completely artificial. The swearing and the coarse language adorn every line, and Marxist slogans are flung around like confetti. A real scream! W & V also have a thing going against "regular people", rendering them as little more than brain-washed zombies. And they really HATE the police! Every action-scene in this movie involves morose policemen out to arrest "our heroes", Lasse & Geir. The only people W & V appear to understand and like are the very young and the innocent, the hapless "victims" of a cruel consumer society. You know - the drop-outs and the drunkards. As for the rest - a bullet will do. It matters little that the filmmaker's intentions are noble and true; you just have to laugh! "Lasse & Geir" could well be the funniest political tract I've ever seen. Even so, most W & V- movies are treasure troves for those who care to search them out.

This movie is the definition of feces. Never have I ever seen worse actors, never have I seen worse script. And this movie is up against the Little Panda Fighter.

This movie has no plot, the scenes have no connection. I tried to watch it through again, so that I could subtitle it and I couldn't. I just couldn't.

Granted, it is hilarious, but not because Wam and Vennerød are good at writing scripts. It's because they are so bad at writing scripts. With lines like "Are you liberal, you f*cker?" and "All girls have a small hole in their fanny, which it blows in when they are walking!", it makes me laugh. Because it's so extraordinarily, mind-numbingly bad.

Let me die.

Quintessential Norwegian social realism; a poetic and wonderfully original movie about two young anarchists and nihilists trying to find their place in a society which they have largely rejected. Svend Wam's writing here has an A Clockwork Orange-ian quality. His two "droogs" have created their own private lingo and existence on the side of society, something which has given them ultimate freedom, in the truest sense of the word. Wam then utilizes this notion in his filmmaking, because like Lasse and Geir themselves, his picture is also free-flowing and seemingly unrestrained by formal conventions and narrative preconceptions. The result is a remarkably rewarding viewing experience, and - in the case of Lasse in particular - a fascinating character study. Torgeir Schjerven has a unique, enigmatic presence that makes you want to get under his skin - which, of course, his character resists with all of his convictions. For Norwegian speakers, Lasse & Geir also offers abundances of hilarious lines and phraseology that add to the enjoyment.