"Summertime Blues" is a German movie from 2009, so this one is almost a decade old now and this is the so far only directorial effort by Marie Reich. Her mother Uschi, a prolific producer, was one of the people working on the script. The cast includes a couple faces that German film buffs may have come across in other projects with the most known being Charly Hübner, who only has a very brief appearance towards the end though. The central character is played by Francois Goeske and this is where the problems start right away as I found him incredibly wooden rom start to finish. There is no range in his performance whatsoever, a maximum of three face expressions altogether. And as he is in pretty much every scene, that is definitely a negative deal breaker. There are also many voice over parts from him and his narration is really as uninspired as his acting. Sarah Beck, who plays the female protagonist and love interest to Goeske's character, is not much better sadly. Also their chemistry is almost non-existent, a typical example of casting two pretty beautiful people for the lead, but their talent is something I am still looking for now that the film is over. Admittedly their story line is not helping at all to be fair. Initially, they cannot seem to stand each other, especially from his perspective and how he sees her right away and when they go on a party and see the other being admired by other boys/girls, it's big love all of a sudden. Say what? As I mentioned the party already, there we have one example of how humor and comedy really aren't the film's biggest strength, the Texan reference is just weak. Another example would be the boy's talking to his father about supermarkets later on. But this may once again also have been only by Goeske's rigid line delivery. Now for the story itself. It starts in an okay manner as they do not depict the parents' divorce as something that truly breaks the young man. That felt right and realistic. However, the fact that both parents found other significant others so quickly and that one moves to England right away after being accepted in a job they have no experience in, all felt really unrealistic and rushed. The film then got worse and worse the longer it went. I must say that 4 stars out of 10 is still pretty much on the generous side here because the more dramatic moments also feel very much for the sake of it, like the baby that was born too early and the drama they created around it and pushed said drama instantly away again. Or the baby's mother's talk to the main character. I also found him fairly unlikable, which also had a whole lot to do with the performance I'm sure. But yeah, you have nothing better to do than take a girl to a special place where another girl took you before and with that I am of course talking about the badgers' location. I felt kinda sorry for the other girl at times, but then again she somewhat deserves it for falling for such an unreliable schmuck. The argument that they are just kids and flawed and not yet defined in life can only excuse for so much. Then again, Goeske was too old for the role anyway. For me there is no doubt that I have to give this film a thumbs-down. Also dragged a bit here and there at over a massive 110 minutes. The only question is how deep down the thumb goes. Deep enough for me to say that you should skip this film. Another example of how romantic teenage films unfortunately suck in over 90% of all cases here in Germany. The music used here was also just as bland and generic as everything else. Watch something else instead.