Un homme sous influence

... how bad a film can actually turn out to be, and not in the trashy-kind-of-funny way. With this one, sky's the limit, or hell rather. Take every possible cliche imaginable, and multiply it by infinity, and you will end up with a film that's derogatory of women, straight men and gay men alike. The aesthetics seem to be taken right out of the worst possible feel-good made-for-tv advertisements, the acting is beyond wooden, and to finish it off, the dubbed dialog (a favorite element of German films, not just when it's applied to foreign-language material) at most times doesn't even match the lip movement. That's all apart from the fact that the emotional and rational motivations of the main characters are utterly incomprehensible, and that this film, in the end, like so many other stories, dares to heroify once again the emotional violation of a woman's wishes as romantic. I don't recommend against seeing this film, on the very contrary: Go see it. Stare into the abyss. Well done, modern German cinema, yet another masterpiece from the country that brought us Metropolis...

A pleasant and warm romantic comedy... Not in the least derogatory to anyone and far less clichéd than any Meg Ryan film. Even for those who honestly and whole-heartedly hate this genre, there are much worse ways to spend an evening or a date.

I don't understand why it received such a dismal rating, and can only guess that it was either shown with a god-awful translation in some language, was mis-advertised and sold as something entirely different, or was attacked by some internet community of overly ardent activists.

Saw it, enjoyed it, found nothing wrong with it, don't regret the 1.5 hours spent. Yes, it is neither Batman, nor Titanic, nor pure art, and may not appeal to those seeking a blockbuster or something elegant and refined, but it did entertain. In my book, that means - job done.