I give three stars for the visual side of the movie, otherwise I cant find almost anything good on it. At the beginning, I expected that the slow pace would change and we would see some bizarre comedy in Lemonade Joe style. Unfortunately, nothing happened and I was forced to listen to eye-closing monologue of the title hero (Tomá Hanák) and other "funny" dialogues between him and various "baddies". I really don't know what director Marhoul meant with his words that he would like to propagate it abroad, even in America. If some American saw this film misery, he would never touch a movie of Czech provenience! I was lucky to see it on DVD, otherwise I would leave a cinema house after cca 40 minutes. However, I would strongly recommend it to patients suffering from sleeplessness. But I must warn that such a tediousness can even kill.
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pagras1 August 2005
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ali-923 December 2003I was really excited to see Mazany Filip, wanting to see a comic Czech take on American film-noir, hard-boiled detective movies. Unfortunately, there was nothing funny about this movie. The directing, pacing, and acting were all terrible, slow, and boring, and *none* of the "jokes", visual or verbal, were in the least funny. Here and there they would try slapstick in the style of the Zucker brothers (Airplane, Naked Gun, etc.), but these failed miserably. I can only go by the English subtitle translation of the script, but it was repetitive and stupid. A host of otherwise good (I'm told) Czech actors had their little cameo set pieces (a screaming film director, a crazy doctor at the sanitarium, etc.), which were even less funny than a Saturday Night Live sketch, if you can imagine it. To portray a black character, they put a white guy in minstrel-show blackface, complete with white lips, curly 'fro wig, and "ol' Southern black guy" accent. My Czech friend who came with me also thought it was terrible, so it can't be only a case of cultural differences. I recommend that you definitely don't waste your money or time on this pathetic film.
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The reason why I didn't title this movie as a Great Parody, but rather a Great Czech Parody is because it's going to be incredibly hard for any non-Czech speaker or even a person that hasn't lived in the Czech republic for a few years, therefore doesn't have the insight into its realities and the Czech sense of humour to grasp all the subtle and even the over-the-top jokes that usually loose all its impact through translation. That is of course very unfortunate because this movie is all about jokes and obviously wasn't made for foreign audiences. It's all black humour - some of it quite smart, most of it intentionally silly and over-the-top jokes, that make its Czech audiences screaming with laughter.
I read a complaint here about the Czech actor painted dark brown with white lips and a lil' afro going on... basically acting a role of an African American in the movie. OK, it wasn't the smartest move from side of the director etc., however it does fit into the general funny and over-the-top silliness of this parody/comedy. Again, I wouldn't expect many people to get it... it even took me a bit to overcome the PC bloc in my head. All I have to say about this is: Guys, relax, it's a comedy!
So, to conclude this 'review'... it's effin' nuts and it's doing a helluva job of it!! :) To all the Czechs/Polish/Slovaks and Czech-speakers of the world: you gotta see this. To the rest of the globe: you can try it out, but... well, you can judge for yourself, you might love it, who knows. -
UncleG11 July 2007Marhoul's so-called comedy was a little bit embarrassing attempt to remake successful theatre play into the movie. The play itself might have been really funny at the theatre... but ain't working on-screen. Some of the jokes are brilliant, but most of it can be considered for childish. And the same duality can be found in acting. I cannot get rid of the strange feeling, that Tomas Hanak (Filip) was READING (not telling) his narrative parts. Pavel Liska (Charlie Brown) totally embarrassed himself as a "wanna-be-so-funny" idiot, speaking with an idiotic voice and making silly faces. His little parts made me feel down. On the other hand, other actors were really good - Vilma Cibulkova as the femme fatale with drinking problems or the psychotic director of the asylum wonderfully performed by Milan Steindler. Really positive and also cute were cameo appearances of Czech artists Frantisek Skala and Jaroslav Rona. In conclusion: 4/10 is a good rating for film with no real story.
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AldaKocka15 December 2003Undoubtedly one of best Czech movies of the last time. Maybe "Pelísky" could compete, but that is all. Clever plot, intelligent dialogs, original funny tricks, over fifty links to other movies such as "Limonádový Joe", "Pulp Fiction", "Batman" and others.
Vilma Cibulková is great, smoking cigarettes with long, extremely long cigarette-holder, drinking whiskey from big, extremely big glass, having big, very big breasts...
In episode roles appear such great Czech actors as Dusek, Holubová, Preis, Standler, Vávra, Vorel, Trojan, and many many many others. -
m-j-g-slonek14 April 2006I found the movie to be a very good satire on all those lame old mafia bits in the past. It's very well done through a different than usual point of view. Some may not understand a lot of it due to the lousy English translation of it. But that's of course due to the fact that Czechs have very little resources when it comes to proper English. They use a twisted book form of British learning which is dead end, out of date slang. I blame that one on the Brits and their misconception of what should be known as English. They seem to teach it, but, as we know, those who can't, teach. If it helps, spend some time to learn Czech, and even take a visit to the country, and you'll understand the true greatness of this movie, I sure did.
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petrusqa19 December 2005I don't really understand the first comment on this movie, maybe it's right, that same foreigner just can't catch the jokes from the movie. I'ts so many important things to know for example about Czech people, and the most about their humour. I'm Czech and I've seen the movie with English subtitles and I can tell, that translation was horrible...there are so many scenes just playing with words, with Czech language and it's really hard to translate it and I don't think, that someone would take so long time to translate it in to fanny English. And the fanny and attractive thing about this movie is that in every small role is some famous actor.And some of them not even say a word, but they are just in it!Thats wonderful! And I recommend to see it more times, because every time you will find another joke or wonderful set. Mazany Filip is the best!!!
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veronika-1413 August 2005Well, I don't know the original play the film is based upon so I can't compare, but the film surprised me very much. I didn't expect much amusement (after many critical reviews), on the contrary - I was a little worried. You know, many many Czech films tend to be something more then they really are, but the result is often awkward and you as a viewer are ashamed, instead. But, I'm happy to say it: Mazaný Filip was funny! And I definitely cannot agree with those who say that the performances were bad! (especially Vilma Cibulkova as the diva Velma was super - as in every movie of hers) and the art direction got me as well. Compared with majority of Czech film production, Mazany Filip is without a doubt one of the best made ones and who says it isn't, they probably belong to the above mentioned category of pseudo-intellectuals. It's definitely worth seeing.