"Eine harte Tour" is a German television film from 2020, so really really new and this one premiered about a week ago here, but I saw it yesterday because it is not too uncommon at all that they are showing the film on several occasions again briefly after its initial release. The title could be translated "A rough ride" perhaps. Like most German small screen releases, it runs for 90 minutes, or minimally under. Director Kleefeld and writer Lorent are relatively experienced, but hile there is no massive failure in their bodies of work, there is also not too much quality, let alone films that really stay memorable. This description fits this one here too. It is certainly much better than many other German television films, but that is mostly becausse these are really bad and this one is just weak overall you could say. I am not too much of a fan of the title here. It is not really inaccurate because it describes the mountain tour as well we the ways in whcih they deal with the loss of a friend and also how they deal with secrets coming to light. And the description of this title also feels accurate looking at how the characters talk to each other, namely frequently vulgar and pretty rough, even if they are close to one another. Sadly these dialogues do not feel particularly authentic. Or I should say they felt badass for the sake of it and they can never make up their mind if we are actually supposed to think people talk like this or if these want us to think these people talk like this. This is just one of several areas where the film does not feel too authentic. Another would be all that happens here really. The death of one character early on is already enough lack of realism for the entire film, but then we have a character collaps with back struggles, a revelation that the deceased had sex with another character and more stuff that, if we take all together just feels fake and like a movie and not actual events.
As for the cast, there are many actors in here that German film buffs will easily recognize. Two of them are pretty talented and these two also do not have a lot of screen time and they did wisely not too because everybody else just would have dragged them down. The best example is Sadler, who disappears before the 15-minute mark I think, and also Juliane Köhler. I am not always a fan of her, but here she was fine and certainly among the better, if not best, cast members. She has more screen time than Sadler, but also disappears for large parts of the film. At the end, this scene with her and her ex-man's spirit was actually pretty nice, even if it is closely linked to the unrealistic happy ending. Honestly, it is impossible to believe that the characters here stick together in the very end, well somehow, after all that happened before. It is impossible honestly. One reason wyh it is not a good movie. Basically, if you read the name Elena Uhlig in the cast, you already know what you are in for. She has been in many films over the years, some of which I have seen and basically all of them are horrible. This one here is slightly better, but this also has to do with the writing, and it certainly does not say anything positive about all the other cast members that range- and versatility-wise, they seem to be on par with Uhlig. The story about her being put down by her man is also not a good one. Sure they had to get in minor plots to justify the existence of supporting characters, but most of the time they did not succeeds and this story I just mentioned is a prime example. By the way, when we see Uhlig's character's meltdown in the last quarter of the movie I was reminded again how bad she is. So ham in this scene. Unreal. Maybe it's not fair to see the other actors are as bad. None of them has a moment this weak and the most embarrassing thing is we are supposed to be happy for her that she finally stands up for herself against these humiliations. Well, folks, if you want an emotional reaction, how about you deliver quality first and not act as if putting thiss little ffort in (in terms of both writing and acting) is enough. Only for the easily influenced. There are more moments when this film has failure written all over it, but eventually it barely makes it out of failure territory I'd say. It's still super far away from being a quality watch that I'd give a positive recommendation. What else can I say here. Oh yeah, the music was not too good. It was mostly light and fast, so they clearly wanted to influence the atmosphere there that we do not forget about this film also being a comedy to some extent despite deaths, constant insults and obscenities and bullying. Like I said, the ending is a bad joke really how they suddenly stand up for Alexa, some of them at least, and not everybody (except this one guy) is against her. It just felt forced to create a more pleasant atmosphere, but I felt that everything between these characters was so messed-up and destroyed that it is impossible for me to believe that they had been friends for a long time before the start of the film already. Oh yeah, another really cringeworthy scene (on par with Uhlig's meltdown) is one character wwhining that the deceased fella was only his best friend and nobody else's. Oh well, the money conversation between them sounded different. It's also a bit difficult for me to understand how it was really Sadler's character who died early on as he was probably the one best in shape from the entire group, but oh well it can happen, especially if you avoid your doctor visits. Okay, this would be all then I suppose. Just one final thing: This film is also not a success from the visual side, which is genuinely disappointing because over two thirds of it are set in the mountainside. It as really disappointing how little they made of that. All in all, not a quality movie. Watch something else instead and if you want to see a better (written and acted) German film that elaborates on conflicts in terms of adult group mentality, I suggest you go for "Das Wochenende" or "Der Vorname", but not this one here. Thumbs down.
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