Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Christian Charlie Virt It starts out with a salesman that has failed in every way possible except for his wife, other than that his financial situation is terrible, his attitude to other people is terrible, and his effort on his quality time with his daughter and wife is terrible too. The worst part is that he doesn't realize how he treats the people around him, and that he is not only ruining others lives, he has forgotten that you have to love yourself, to love others. Hes involved in an accident, and get to see himself, with another perspective. In the end he stands before a great conflict and it he must take the right decision, and see what truly matters in life.

Baron Ronan Doyle I read somewhere that those who enjoy the directorial work of Anders Thomas Jensen might find themselves enjoying Sorte Kugler. A servile follower of Jensen, I sought this one, the debut of star Anders Mattheson, out immediately.Negative, anger prone, and downright rude, Alex Klein is a real estate agent with serious financial problems and a job he's very likely to lose. His problems are solved when, rather extemporaneously, he dies. Finding himself in a strange pseudo-purgatorial gameshow, he is given the chance to win back his life by overcoming his character flaws.Beginning seriously, with Klein presented as a straight faced and talented salesman, it's not long before we see things quickly revealing themselves. The facade of professionalism soon dissolves to reveal the sardonic and irreverent bitterness which henceforth fills the film. Klein's meanness is consistently amusing, a particular scene in which he firmly demands correct grammar from a friend's casual anecdote deliciously witty. Mattheson's delivery is genuine, sharp, and very funny, making his character more irritatingly irritable by the second. Once we move to the afterlife, however, things take a turn for the worse. The baffling strangeness of the scenes which follow is quite perplexing, as I much assume it intends to be at first. The humour now comes from a variety of sources, none of which match the quality of the original curmudgeonly splendour of Mattheson's ramblings. The scenarios he is placed in by the gameshow are never hilarious, nor are the scenes with its host. It would have worked out a far funnier experience to simply fill the film with Klein behaving in his horrid manner. No narrative structure per-se, granted, but certainly funnier. As it does transpire, we follow a half hour or so of considerable comic potential with an hour of general mediocrity, mixing the occasional laugh with plenty of instances of dead and flat humour, giving the impression of trying too hard. The ending is not bad, even spurning a few laughs, though not particularly great either.After a very strong start offering the sort of black humour admittedly recalling Jensen's work, Sorte Kugler digs itself into a hole it contentedly remains seated in. Failing to live up to the high standard it originally sets, it proves very disappointing, though not unenjoyable.

Christian H-N Too many people focus on what's wrong with everything and everybody, and tends to excel in sarcasm, so they can pour their personal pain out over everybody, who happens to be close by. Just like one of your teachers in school.Then it takes a dramatic event (a kick in the behind) to look at life in a bigger perspective and focus on the happiness which is here now, instead of being grumpy about what went wrong some time ago.This is not new or very deep psychology, but it is always fun to watch the transformation from a grumpy "everything-is-wrong" person to a happy "I like things as they are" person, especially when it is done with wit and humor.You may or may not like the style. I liked it.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews I knew I would be watching this the moment I first heard The Duck was working behind, not only in front of, the camera. Regardless of whether or not it was going to turn out incredible, it was obvious that it was going to be interesting to see. He throws himself head first into not only a fresh project, but also a different type, sometimes even switching mediums, every time he completes one, with few exceptions. Stand-up, radio, music(singing as well as rapping), a TV series, an episodic Christmas calendar, shows, acting and writing. While not everything he touches turns into the purest gold, the man is clearly multi-talented, and highly creative. I didn't go into this expecting it to be perfect. My summary refers to this as his directorial debut as well as how the film opens. It has a nice, strong beginning, that sets the tone well, if that doesn't last throughout the whole thing. There are points where Matthesen didn't seem to dare take the full step, and go for being serious(however, there are places where it was critical that it was, and he nailed it), so he injects humor when there shouldn't be. This is immensely funny, almost every single time it sets out to be. It hardly ever tries too hard. He uses his anger and the rants we know and love, his trademark. The story-telling is fairly solid. We can forgive the single use of a well-known, old crutch for exposition. It helps that this does communicate well. The problem lies in what it is putting forth. It's just thin, I'm sorry. The universe of this movie is an oversimplified version of the real world, in which only our lead is a negative, and everyone else is positive, especially before they have contact with him. I'm not certain he intended it to come off entirely that way, nevertheless, that is what we have here. The moral is amiable, yes... and also preachy. It reveals a naiveté, that I think lies in the fact that he has not had that difficult time of being successful. It's not unlike Robert Rodriguez... neither set out to wow audiences the first time, and now they forget that it does not go that well for everyone. Chances are necessary to win, that doesn't mean that every one that is taken goes well. This is more than a tad black and white... literally. And the symbolism is... I understand, he did not want to risk viewers not "getting it", still... he goes above and beyond, leaving no way to misinterpret. I believe he intended to inspire further thought, he may have not realized that the better way to do that is to not serve the answers on a platter. There is one particular scene that goes against the logic of the rest of it, and is unmistakably there because he wanted it there. I must admit that one of the main elements of this surprised me, and I refuse to divulge it to anyone who does not already know. There is a twist that I did not see coming, and it was effective. The ending is excessive. This is hilarious when at its best, and utilizes several types of comedy, and well. Situational, cleverness, wit, etc. Anders tries to joke with the "happy" stuff to not feel lame, the way he has before, and it's... not great. The acting is marvelous, basically all of the performances(with the possible exception of the kid, what else is new). They play off each other well. The cast is well-chosen, and the cameos cool. There is genuine tension and drama in this. The language is harsh, if not frequent. This has disturbing thematic material, and is not for children. I recommend this to his fans. Be careful not to go solely for the laughs, or you may find yourself somewhat disappointed. Go with an open mind, and you may like it, especially if you deploy your anti-pretentiousness-filter. 7/10