Comrade Detective (2017) User Reviews (57)

Great Kitsch throwback fun with a twist

[triplex376 · 8/10 · 6 August 2017]

No one is being exploited. Every actor that was involved got the double, double, entendre. It is done so straight faced, however, that it only adds to the elements of comedy and drama. This is wonderful, clever, television.

The bare faced communist propaganda presented so matter of factly, viewed now through the lens of history, is gold. The take on the 1980's buddy cop scenario played out hundreds of times in American Films and TV is incongruous to the 'behind the iron curtain' setting but, in being so, works. The material is a cartoon style take on the threats communist Romania may have faced from the West. The dialogue is done in an American style with Eastern European content - again this adds to the unlikely seriousness.

The whole six episodes are a blended mix of the above ingredients. The dubbing into English adds to this the idea of a throw back to another era. The camera direction is superb. The whole thing from start to finish riffs on all of the above elements to provide gloriously knowing entertainment.

The show also manages to add in ideas that will make you think on the whole failed communist experiment but also makes you think on the failures of the capitalist experiment that we are living.

That whole thing nearly, completely, failed too around 2008.

Comrade Detective turned to be an ingenious show

[VicDann · 8/10 · 22 August 2017]

I was a little skeptic about the idea of dubbing the original actors, which by the way, they speak my native language, but turned out that they added a cool flavor by going this way and really hardened the idea of propaganda. Although, I ultimately see it as a comedy, this shows is an example of how television affects politics; communism propaganda with all its portraying in the show makes it clear. Nevertheless the same propaganda happened in capitalist US as well, for example there "Russian bad guy" in movies, and still happens today all over countries, but is more sublime, its mechanism has evolved.

Overall is a good show to watch, ingenious and unique; give it a try, you will have a nice blend mashup when "digested".

Too Competent

[paul-day-clone · 6/10 · 4 August 2017]

It's so close. The biggest issue is that it looks too good. Part of the joke is that Communism is better than Capitalism...but not really. Instead, we get a glossy, overproduced product that couldn't possibly be what it pretends to be. There's far too much of the West in this show to establish the verisimilitude and that is the entire genius behind Garth Merenghi's Darkplace. Darkplace showed a horrible show produced by incompetent people and it kept up that fiction. Comrade Detective only gets half of the joke. Gorgeous cinematography, sweeping camera pans with nary a trace of the grit of the "source material." If you've ever seen any Eastern European from that time period then you know it doesn't look good. Even under the rubric of "restoration" it falls apart pretty quickly.

The other issue is they couldn't decide whether it's a comedy or an homage to bad TV. There's not enough jokes to be rollickingly funny and the plot is too believable to really sustain jokes. The stuff with chess is great but they should have hit it harder. The profanity seems really out of place to pass it off as an actual TV show. Perhaps that wasn't their vision and this was the product they wanted to produce. However, just throwing a few communist phrases out in the middle of police drama doesn't create a world. It just points out that they didn't fully think the project through.

Still, it's a good effort.

Something of a hidden gem. An almost impossible thing to watch without some context

[raares · 9/10 · 4 August 2017]

Yes I am from Romania, so maybe I am a little biased. But this show made me remember some times which were hard for us but for me as a kid, were some of the happiest in my life. If you like history, or have lived and "enjoyed" communism in your life,or you are from Romania and can appreciate a smart TV show, then this is something that will make you an instant fan. Having said that, this is maybe too niche in a word dominated by superpower shows , horrible murders TV episodes or MTV Ridiculousness like shows. The so called "found footage of lost TV shows" mixed with the propaganda tag that the so-called founders are putting on it is for once exactly what the show is . This is a propaganda TV series about 2 cops trying to find the killer of their detective friend and fighting with the West Communism ideology in a 1980's Bucharest Romania ( still under the strong arm of the communist party ). It recreates a 80's propaganda atmosphere with minute attention to details that only a few might fully appreciate like for example the televised chess matches, the Nadia Comaneci craze , the old Dacia cars, the clothes that the actors are wearing, the police methods , the guns , the over-repetition of communism ideals and tropes, the demonizing of the west. While I agree that the show "looks too good " for the so-called propaganda style, I quickly forgot about it while watching. Don't expect over the top villains or action ( although it does have a lot of it ). It's like watching the first Expendables. All the 80s glory with all the new that the present has to offer. But from the other side of Iron Curtain. The show is what Miami Vice would have been if made in Romania before the fall of communism. I would give it a 10/10 just for the aftertaste and for making me smile so wide but I am giving it a 9 just to try and curb my enthusiasm. I am pretty sure it's not going to be the next GOT, but I am pretty sure it will develop a small but devoted cult following. I love the actors and they are doing a very good job. Special kudos for the big names in Hollywood which were involved for the dubbing. It was the biggest surprise I had this year.

Unique & Fresh

[rpgatewood · 10/10 · 4 August 2017]

Wow, this is a great new show. Bravo to Amazon for taking a risk on this – and it must have been a risk if only from a marketing standpoint considering how the writers have blurred the lines between different genres and tropes. The amazing thing is how well it works. Satire is so hard to pull of convincingly, and yet Comrade Detective pulls this off AND develops a gripping cop- procedural/thriller at the same time. This is nifty, ingenious artistry, and you can tell how the whole crew threw themselves into the project. The directing is sharp and moody, the Romanian actors are incredible, the dubbing cast hilarious... even the score is remarkable – a true orchestral sound with real themes and variations the likes of which you don't hear much anymore, even in big screen films. The writing is a masterful mix of the ham-fisted comedy that marked this era's (1980's) cop dramas and subtle satire that works on multiple levels – it lampoons both Western capitalism and Eastern communism but does so in a way that is never snarky or mean-spirited. All of which is to say that even though it's high-concept, it's got a big heart. The only thing left to do now is wait for Season Two... Please, Amazon, you got behind something unique & fresh, keep giving the people what they want!

This series is hilarious!

[kgrovebruce · 10/10 · 1 September 2017]

This series pokes fun at both Western and Communist societies, and there are so many quick one-liners it keeps you on your toes trying to catch them all. Brilliantly done, clever and lots of fun. The costumes and scenery are authentic and spot on. It was hard not to watch them all in one sitting, they are that addictive. Please make another season!

I liked it

[mykethemakeupguy · 25 August 2017]

First off let's set the record... this isn't an actual show that aired of Romanian TV back in the 80's , it's meant to lead you to believe it was. Some of the actors playing the characters that are being dubbed by some of today's actors where not even born in the 1980's ... but the show is pretty good either way.

Historical materialism

[ferdinand1932 · 7/10 · 9 August 2017]

In 1980s when world was on brink of nuclear clash, culture wars made on medium of opiate of masses, the TV. This to convince different people that American music, movies, hamburgers, and between meal snacks and sodas, were better than folk music and costumes of rural people and people in cities, like Sofia or Bucharest.

Now Americans mock that time in sort of irony of TV series like was a Coen Brothers movie: All the events are real only people changed, type of deal.

The show is not funny all time only when making propaganda against capitalism and US lifestyles of narcissism and individuality. And of American diet high in saturated fats. But mostly not laughing all the time, just on state ministry type Marxism dialogs.

The show is really improved on TV made at that era and application of propaganda too obvious when ethical qualities of life in countries of old Soviet bloc were much clear to people.

Still, the shows is going good so far and with much online review adopting bourgeois conformism to all other comments saying that it is all good time and having fun, a second season is as inevitable as the march of historical materialism.

Brilliant Parody

[mdesteptu · 9/10 · 10 August 2017]

Smart and funny comedy and an absurd story keeping you surprisingly engaged!

After the first scenes, some might initially wonder about what's going on in front of their eyes and stop watching rating this movie as "garbage". I advise them to go back and reconsider: this movie is a brilliant parody!

The initial rolling credits are the first hint that we are dealing with a joke: the cast appears to have Romanian names, but after a few seconds, one can realize that all of them are funny animal names, very unlikely to be real.

But the beauty comes from the absurdity of the plot and the purposely exaggerated situations, full of stereotypes like: - Romanians listening only to classical music - cheering and commenting on live TV chess matches - being obsessed with gymnastics and Nadia Comaneci. - having no idea what "Jeans" are - having no idea what the Monopoly game is, only to consider it a symbol of the "putrid capitalism", once they find out - teaching kids to snitch on their subversive parents - the Communist Party Manifesto is a precious gift one would always carry in the pocket, next to the heart, like a Bible for some Americans. - group of workers strolling in the park and singing the national anthem - belief that western music is in fact propaganda designed to break down your defenses - CIA importing drugs to undermine the black community - the US Ambassador is busy spreading "freedom and democracy" while her schedule contains 2 hours massages at 10AM and 4 hours lunches - some very fat Americans guys are stuffing their mouths with piles of hamburgers inside the American embassy. - Americans are so lazy they can be bothered to wash their cars (when the Romanian detective is questioning what is a car wash good for) - everyone in America seems to have AIDS - the West wants to turn all women in prostitutes. - New York City looks like a nightmarish hell on earth - Americans elect actors and celebrities (like Ronald Reagan) as presidents, a proof of their indoctrination. - When in doubt, Romanian ask themselves "what would Lenin do?", as opposite to Americans asking themselves "what would Jesus do?" - The "traitor" cop, with that large tattoo (something unheard of in 80s Romania) who is "praying" to the American flag, is nothing else than a parody for the American White Supremacists. Just replace the American Flag with the one with a Nazi Swastika and... there you go. ....

And more Easter Eggs quoting from memory: - "There is an as...hole building skyscrapers in NY, putting his name in golden letters on them" - "Freedom of religion is not an right, universal health care is" - "For once, I appreciate your American obsession with the second amendment" ....

Or funny references like - reference to Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" and his "invisible hand", the corner stone of the capitalist economy. - reference to Tuco Salamanca from Breaking Bad: instead being offered a meth deal, the Romanian smuggler is offered a Pepsi deal. ....

Really enjoyed it!

Good but not great

[scottfotos · 6/10 · 21 April 2021]

Comrade Detective has a lot of good things going for it, but IMO does not execute it properly to get maximum comedy and actual believability. The English voiced dubbed are perfect and fit well with the style, but it's too hard to believe that this is a Romanian production at the height of the Cold War because of the slickness of the show's production values. The entire production doesn't look like it was done on the cheap as would be a typical Communist Cold War television show, even if the show was intended to be an important tool for propaganda. It would have been smart for show runners to examine Garth Marenghi's Darkplace beforehand to get a feel for cheap production values and one-take scenes with much less than perfect acting, lighting, sound, editing...you name it. There's little entertainment shows to be found from the USSR during this era, but it was all done on the very cheap. This looks like a properly budgeted American show, and it hurts the effect they were going for.

Cute idea done badly

[cherold · 4/10 · 25 August 2017]

The intriguing premise of Comrade Detective is that a hit Romanian detective series of the 1980s has been dubbed for an American audience.

There is little attempt to make this persuasive; the show is shot in wide-screen, the show looks better filmed than even American TV series of the period, and the constant swearing seems like it would be no more likely in Romanian series of the period than in American ones. (I don't know what to make of the numerous user reviews that seem to believe this series really is an old Romanian series; it doesn't strike them as silly that Romanians in the 80s wouldn't even know what blue jeans are?)

The most amusing part of the one episode I saw were those that had characters spouting propaganda points, as when the detective lectures drug dealers on the CIA bringing drugs into black neighborhoods or tells his commander that he knows there can't be a mole in the police force because there is no corruption among the Roumanian police. It's also amusing to see two cops eagerly watching a chess tournament or the portrayal of the U.S. embassy chief as a conniving, overly-made-up woman in a ridiculous fur coat.

I found myself never really understanding what Comrade Detective was trying to do. It had some of the style of '80s series, but it didn't hit the era's tropes all that hard and doesn't come across as much different from today's cop shows. The political satire is fitful, as though the series keeps forgetting it's supposed to be a parody of something. It feels like the creators felt that once they had the basic idea the series would write itself, so they just let it spool out without ever deciding what kind of thing they were making.

It's not quite satire, not quite parody, not quite cop drama. It's not quite anything.

If you want to see someone who gets east European parody, find the user review of this series by ferdinand1932 called "Historical materialism." He wrote his review in fractured English that is full of badly- expressed communist nonsense So far it's gotten all down votes, probably by the same people who don't know the series is a fake.

Brilliant series

[Surveyor99 · 10/10 · 11 October 2019]

Having the "privilege" to live most of my youth years in Communist Romania, I must say the the producers did a great job to create the atmosphere of those times. The costumes, the cars, the buildings everything is just perfect. The cast is top class and the subject is just hilarious. I am still laughing at some of the subject lines but also bask in nostalgia. I feel like I have travelled into the past and I love it. I don't appreciate the bad reviews of some critics here. If you did not get it it's because you do not know the context, have not lived in those days, have no sense of humour and probably never read a book in your lives. This series is unique, not your Hollywood standard which makes the show so captivating and making you wanting more of it. I hope you continue to produce more seasons of this show. I am sure it will be a success.

Archer meets Spenser for Hire meets poorly dubbed 1960s Japanese movie

[admin-22725 · 7/10 · 4 August 2017]

Well produced but the dubbing to English is too off putting to make it anything more than just passing entertainment. The creation story is ridiculous and only serves to remind you that it is only two steps up from an Adam Sandler or a Rock production. The producers should have recognized that TV audiences are more perceptive to being manipulated and have a growing resentment to it. That they didn't is a shame. The dubbing to English has so many off notes that you spend most of the time thinking of what could have been. If they hadn't dubbed, it would be a nice series–similar to Life on Mars (vintage/throwback) or the first season of The Sniffer (import detective series). Certainly not as good as Bordertown but enough to be entertaining.

One good idea, lots of bad ones.

[pawebster · 4/10 · 5 August 2017]

Somebody had an intriguing idea for a fun series: Cold War nostalgia, a bit like "The Americans" or "Deutschland 83", but more comedic. What came out is a mess. (1) It's supposed to be a Romanian series from 1983, but is totally unconvincing as such. A communist TV series would not include swearing, blood and gore (of which there is a gratuitously large amount) or rampant crime and corruption in the police. Also the visual style is not that of eastern European TV or film in the 1980s. (2) If it's meant to be a comedy, it isn't anything like funny enough. "Top Secret" (made in 1984, from the "Airplane" stable) could get away with making a joke of the oppression in East Germany, because it was completely wacky. This show is too close to reality to succeed as a comedy - even if it had enough jokes. (3) Romania in the Ceausescu era was no comedy at all. For example, in its supposed role as a communist production, this show mocks religion and believers, which is a very bad move in this case. Romania treated religious believers with unimaginable cruelty (Look up Richard Wurmbrand on Wikipedia). (4) The show, again purporting to be a communist production, puts forward cogent criticisms of the shallow and exploitative culture and politics of America and the west. Yet the show itself is a prime example of all this. (5) Whatever were the Romanian actors thinking of when they agreed to take part in this? I couldn't help feeling again and again that they were being exploited and debased.

Simply brilliant!

[PaulPogues · 9/10 · 7 January 2019]

I absolutely loved this show and I hope there's a second season as some point! Tell you what's as funny as the show though! Some of these reviews where people thought it was a real show! Haha. I think my favourite comment from one reviewer was something about it being dubbed was annoying, and why the hell did they put them on when the Romanian actors had done such a good job!? Haha. I think the whole point flew straight over their head! The vast majority of Americans are too lazy to read subtitles, they certainly wouldn't watch an 80s Romanian cop show without it being dubbed. Even in one episode at the beginning Channing & Jon Ronson explain why they went the dubbed route for the supposedly "real show". I'm guessing the reviewer didn't make it to that episode before he'd made his mind up!

It's basically just really silly and over the top with very subtle lines that I personally found hilarious. For me there was a laugh a minute. I loved it from the get go. I'm lucky to have even heard about it really, I'm a huge Jon Ronson fan, of his books, audio books, and films he's credited with so I was just googling what he'd done lately and that's how I came across this, as I'd not heard about it prior, so I'm glad I did that google search as like I said, I really loved the show.

The only let down for me, and which stopped me from giving it a 10, was the ending of the finale, It is an absolutely stupid show with outrageous scenarios but even with that in mind I felt the ending was just a little too much! I won't go into it with spoilers but yeah, I just felt a tad let down with that.

It did say "to be continued" after that last episode anyway so here's to hoping for a 2nd season.

great but could be better

[inefliu · 8/10 · 5 August 2017]

it is a good try and a great spoof series but even Communist propaganda was a bit more subtle.

The Communist propaganda movie heroes did not drink heavy or sleep around carelessly ( albeit seducing an imperialist women in the service of the Party would have been perfectly fine ). The filmmakers there were also all too conscious that the Soviet block realities were grittier so usually the movies would show more prosperity and modernity than was the case for the vast majority of the population. Only the best buildings and the nicest parts of the city would appear on screen. The main character of a Communist propaganda movie would be a happy worker or collective farmer (if he was a policemen he would have started as factory worker and then promoted for his qualities), wise and good-mannered, uninterested in material wealth and devoted to the building of the "multi-lateral developed socialist society and steady advancement toward the golden dream of humanity - the Communism". His parents would have been also of "healthy social origin" - also workers, peasants, socialist intellectuals, etc.

Albeit snitching for the regime was encouraged it would have been glorified - the persons reported to the authorities would be portrayed in a more negative manner and the person reporting to the authorities would appear more heroic and occupying the higher moral ground ( eventually he/she would have tried to educate the "traitor to the people" but be rebuffed/ laughed at).

Communist movie makers watched Hollywood movies and would know how to tweak its recipes in the service of the Party.

Whose Propaganda?

[Prolecenter · 8/10 · 16 August 2017]

I really enjoyed Comrade Detective a lot more than I thought I would. Others have referred to it as a comedic version of Miami Vice, but from the communist perspective and set in Bucharest, Romania. This is a very good way to describe it.

I wanted to give this show a 10-star rating, but I had to hold back a couple of stars for a very important reason - it is clearly propaganda. It is meant to poke fun at socialism and the socialist countries; as you watch this will be quite obvious. However, if you can forget everything you think you know about socialism and the Cold War and pay close attention to many of the statements of the protagonists of the show, you might find that they make quite a lot of sense. In fact, they are stating a lot of indisputable facts such as how the socialist countries really were targeted by the US and the capitalist West with propaganda, sabotage and subversion. If you doubt this, then I suggest you check out the documentary, Chuck Norris vs. Communism. Also, in many instances, our hero cops convincingly explain key points and arguments in favor of socialism and against capitalism.

Don't just turn off your brain and laugh when you watch this. Pay close attention and you might just learn something.

Good...good show.

[eve-41506 · 14 August 2017]

I'm watching it again as I write this. The details of why I'm a fan have been elucidated on. The second time around and more gems are being revealed. Good job to the folks who were involved. I have to write more, good grief. Okay, the writing, the feel for the eighties, the acting, local, good call. Even the humor has a feel of that decade, "kitschy" and it works. I will be watching it again with friends and family just to enjoy their reactions.

Interesting twist on the buddy cop genre..

[sanjin_9632 · 6/10 · 1 October 2017]

The Romanian actors did a great job. The series has some comedic value. I grew up in a socialist country so I get what they were trying to do. The interesting thing is: After watching the whole 6 episodes, I have to say that western civilization, specifically the U.S., is not portrayed in a good light. Capitalism has many downsides, many more than socialism. That's a fact. Land of the free etc. is nothing but a bubble, always has been. There's another interesting sentence from the west: Money is the root of all evil. Truer than probably most sayings.

Enough about that, back to this series. As much as Tatum and the producers, director etc. are trying to spoof communism and everything that comes with it, I think they've actually managed to do the opposite. But, this is still just a show. Politics aside, it's entertaining. The dubbing makes it fun. That's all it is. And it's also a nice idea. I would've preferred it to be a little more funny, like Naked Gun-funny. 6.2/10 for the idea. Execution's not bad too.

Welcome to Bucharest, baby!

[Teslaphile · 8/10 · 3 June 2020]

This show is awesome. Tongue firmly in cheek, Comrade Detective chronicles the patriotic exploits of good Communist cops Greghor Anghel and Iosif Baciu, while turning the American cold war era flag-waving capitalist propaganda we know and love on its head in a most satisfactory manner. For instance, the ominous music that plays when the American embassy is shown perfectly matches the Hollywood trope of letting the music tell you who the bad guys are.

The characters, being creations of the communist state, of course take every opportunity to praise the glorious nation of Romania as well as communism, and remark on the greed and corruption of the capitalist west. For instance, when Anghel remarks that an American woman is dressed like a prostitute, Baciu replies with the line, "She's a capitalist; isn't calling her a prostitute redundant?" When busting a criminal Anghel explains that Americans put drugs into black communities to weaken and control them; why would he bring American drugs to his fellow countryman? When he's told "because I want money," the grizzled detective is nonplussed; isn't the perp's healthcare, education, and food provided by the glorious state? What more does he need?? Later when he's anxious to question a suspect who he's put in the hospital-- in case he doesn't recover-- the doctor patiently explains that, "of course he'll recover; he's receiving the best healthcare in the world."

The plot is what you'd expect from such a show. The cops must stop whatever American killer is on the loose, not only to stop him killing again, but to stop him spreading dangerous, decadent western values! The Romanian cast does a great job, as do the American voice actors. The plot is something that might very well be featured on an 80's Soviet tv show, I guess, and it's actually just a good show. Plenty of action and it's really funny. Now, the funny doesn't come from jokes being rattled off; it's the faux seriousness of the show that's funny. I understand that it's a bit too cerebral for some people who just want to watch a comedy and laugh at constant punchlines. I do recommend this though!

Fun

[skay_baltimore · 7/10 · 6 December 2017]

What can I say? This show was just plain fun. And entertaining. I had no idea what to expect. It was something that came free with Amazon Prime and it looked like it might be different. It was. And compared to some of the crappy shows and movies I've been watching lately, this show was entertaining, enjoyable, and, well...just plain fun. I thought the acting was decent. Each episode rolled right along. There was some warmth as well as some suspense. And there was humor that actually worked. The characters were likable and the story arcs were believable. If you want something different for a change, give Comrade Detective a try.

Skip the ending!

[miko-03760 · 2/10 · 30 March 2018]

The whole show was clever, fun, witty and unique...until the last episode! Which fell totally flat and seemed completely out of character with the whole series that had been well executed and consistently funny. (I seriously wouldn't even bother watching it. Enjoy the first five episodes and skip the last!) It was so horribly written in terms of plot and then executed in a way that was so pathetically hokie it wasn't befitting of the amount of time and effort that went into the rest of this production. (Spoiler alert:) In the big reveal can anyone even tell me what the heck was going on? Was the entire purpose to create a soundstage and prance around like Miami Vice? It. Was. Dumb. I doubt we'll see another season of Comrade Detective.

Damn funny and well done

[beagle299-1 · 8/10 · 28 November 2021]

Its over the top and ridiculous intentionally. Brilliant idea and done well. Presented as a real show from communist Romania that was discovered and remastered. It was shot with Romanian actors then dubbed. An amazing cast for the voice dubbing.

The Premise is Great

[cwstone · 3/10 · 16 August 2020]

Whoever came up with the premise of Comrade Detective deserves The Order of Lenin. It's a sublimely clever concept for a TV series. Just reading the description was enough to make me chuckle. But right off the bat I realized the creators had made a giant miscalculation. It's a flaw on the most fundamental level: Comrade Detective doesn't understand its purpose. It's not so much that it misses the mark, but rather at which mark is it aiming? Parody? Satire? a semi serious drama? From an aesthetic level it's entirely unconvincing. Yes locations are appropriately authentic but the production itself is too slick, too polished. Comrade Detective is glaringly western in appearance. It doesn't look like a program that would exist in the 80s...forget about Eastern Bloc Hungary. The production value would have been atrocious and to western audiences completely bizarre. This show looks far too recognizable. There is satire but it broaches far too infrequently. One character questioning why another character would want to read a book when chess is on the television is, in theory, very funny. In execution, it feels like we're being thrown a satirical bone to gnaw in for a while. There are brief glimpses of the potential Comrade Detective had to be a scathing and laconic indictment of both Capitalism and Communism...but it never goes all in. It takes itself too seriously to succeed on any level. Since the crappy 80s buddy cop genre is basically an American invention, one that exists circa 1983 Hungary would have to be a rip-off. I think that's probably how the show was originally conceived but they appear to have chickened out. Ask yourself, what would Miami Vice or Lethal Weapon look like behind the Iron Curtain? If the Communists reverse engineered them and repackaged it for their own citizens. Comrade Detective should have been an absolute comedic gold mine. But instead we're left with a dog chasing it's own tail. What a waste!

Perfeeeeect!!!

[undeaifost · 10/10 · 15 January 2020]

Absolutely funny-tastic! And yes, i am from Romania! After 30 years after the death of communism, this movie tells everybody the truth, wrapped in jokes and laughs. But the truth is sad for romanians, only!