Vet hard

Well, I read in some of the reviews here that the story is not really highly original and that is indeed true. However, it is not that strange, since this movie is a Dutch re-make from the Danish movie "Old Men in New Cars", something most viewers seem to have missed. Not having seen the original I can't compare the two and maybe that is for the better, because often a re-make loses it from the original, simply for that is not the original.

Vet Hard is a good debut from new Dutch director Tim Oliehoek. It doesn't have any pretensions, other then to just simply entertain and that it certainly does. Jack Wouterse is perfectly casted as Bennie, the main character and also the rest of the cast is adequate. The movie evolves around some nice action sequences and slapstick humor and all in all this makes for an entertaining experience. Not a top 250 of all time movie, but good enough for a nice and relaxed evening.

I quit the movie after 36 minutes so one might think it is unfair to judge. Its just that by that time the Dutch team got so far behind the Danish original ("old men in new cars") there was no chance to make up the deficit. I did not know that I'm going to see a remake from the beginning so I just felt a little uncomfortable when Vuk was introduced. But soon they made clear whom they are going to challenge. From now on I couldn't help but to compare with the original. All of a sudden the actors appeared to be amateurish impostors. You might have experienced the situation someone's telling a joke that is not only well known but also badly presented. What a shame. Such a disgraceful defeat should not be published.

I went to see Vet hard (or as it is called in Belgium 'volle gas' ) with expectations that weren't too high. My experience with former dutch attempts at action movies, especially the ones as far back as the 'flodder' movies and other dick maas attempts like 'amsterdamned', were not too good. And the trailer of vet hard did not promise any improvement.

What a sigh of relief I could breathe when I watched the movie! The story is erratic and makes no sense at times, but the movie does not aspire or pretend to be a feat of high story telling ability. Instead it focuses on it's best assets; fun action sequences which are exhilarating at times, despite the limited budget, and slapstick-like humor provided by a fantastic Jack Wouterse in the role of 'Bennie' and Peter van den Begin as 'Vuk'.

The acting overall ranges from adequate to excellent, the best being provided by Kurt Rogiers who portrays a necrophiliac serial-rapist in a way that he is almost likable. Jack Wouterse plays a convincing and extremely funny overweight Bennie and carries the role of the main character well. I wasn't too exited by the acting of Bracha van Doesburgh however, who looks great, but, as a fist timer tries her best to portray her character as believable as possible but fails in doing so at times.

All in all Vet Hard has it's weak points, a lot of them actually, but it is easy to forgive them. The movie was made with love and care and it is clearly visible the cast had a lot of fun making it.

An 8 out of 10

As an American, I'm not quite sure what to make of this film. It's a bit too brutal for a "zany, madcap comedy", and a bit too slapstick for a "black comedy". Also, it seems more than a bit misogynistic. I'm guessing this is a Dutch flick for "yobs". Still, for entertainment value, I can't say that I disliked it, but I'm huge Nederphile. The ending was certainly different than I expected. A few things might be lost on a foreign audience - the institution of the Dutch "snack bar", for instance, and why Bennie gets so angry when he comes back to find that it's been turned into a "Quicherie".

Mindless fun, but perhaps not one you'll want to watch with a lady friend.

I went to see this movie, expecting to see a nice humorous action movie, but I was VERY disappointed when I left the cinema... They tried to make a funny movie, but the jokes were sooo easy even a 5 year would understand them and that's not my kind of humour. The first half of the movie didn't really contain a story, which can be OK (see "Dude where's my car"), but in the second half they suddenly tried to make a story, in which they failed big time.

Everything that happened in the movie was so obvious that you could see it coming 10 minutes in front, so after a while everything that happened started to annoy me. I was like "I hope they won't let this happen" and then a few seconds later it happened, bummer... for me, cuz some people seemed to enjoy themselves, which was even more annoying

Conclusion: don't waste your money on this movie or, if your going to see it anyway, have a lot of beer before entering the cinema, it might work....