Directed by:
Patrik HartlScreenplay:
Patrik HartlCinematography:
Tomáš SyselComposer:
Marek DoubravaCast:
Martin Pechlát, David Švehlík, Hynek Čermák, Martin Hofmann, Jana Kolesárová, Zuzana Norisová, Kristýna Boková, Petra Polnišová, Daniela Kolářová (more)Plots(1)
Four middle-aged friends admit that they don`t live as they imagined. They decide to solve their crisis with a provocative game with almost impossible tasks. How does a man find out if he’s a real guy? How do they prevent the corrosion of their ideals, the fading of dreams and the shrinking of testicles? Everyone will try to find the courage to do good crap as if they were young. Or at least the courage to say what you really think in all circumstances. Whoever completes the task is not a bastard. (3Kino Fest)
(more)Reviews (7)
One of the best Czech films (comedy) in recent years. Great characters, mid-life crisis, funny, touching, entertaining and well acted. I recommend it. The film and the premise are on par, and most importantly it features about 50 Czech well-known actors, which was a damn pleasure. Hofmann again is the best. 8/10.
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Composition of chatterboxes and perpetually dissatisfied men, who would like everything and everyone to fall into their lap on one side. On the other side, a sad composition of women who dare to occasionally ask something of men. And when they visually or by expectation deviate from the norm, they voluntarily wait in the corner or even beg. Patrik Hartl may be writing and filming erotic or life desires and goals, but the result is so unpleasantly toxic that I will rather avoid him in a wide arc. The author's massive popularity in a package of almost-values presented is quite terrifying to me, but unfortunately also explanatory within the aggressive twenties.
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In the last two days, besides this movie, I've also seen Sweethearts. And that kinda forces me to give Prvok and Co. an extra star, because the difference is just huge. Okay, sometimes I didn’t quite catch the humor, but otherwise I enjoyed it quite a bit. A good ensemble, the charismatic Hofmann... I'll gladly give it another go and I’m looking forward to seeing Patrik's next film. More than his next book.
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Patrik Hartl, much like Radka Třeštíková, writes popular bestsellers. He doesn't particularly think about things, he lives off his practice from Studio Dva, and he knows what appeals to a certain type of audience. He layers situations, calculates reactions to them, and is content. Likewise, he can turn his popularity into a similarly pleasing film, where even the smallest role is played by renowned actors. Appearing in Hartl's work is important. The story of Bet on Friendship unfolds in Prague in areas that viewers intimately recognize. They also recognize situations like "the older son lives with his mother," "the father leaves the family," "marital infidelity," or "I'm afraid of responsibility." But they don't know anything else, and therefore, for example, the storyline with the drag performance describes an old model - the husband performs Heidi Janků covers, so isn't he possibly gay, and is our whole life a lie? The plot culminates in an awkward scene with saleswomen struggling to sell women's dresses and with nonsensical risky pregnancy. This is how similar plots were written in a pseudo-humorous style years ago; today, it's somewhat primitive and only points out that Hartl hasn't emerged from his cave in a long time. It's all false, just like the collective pretense of journalists who have deliberately chosen not to mention that Hartl's previous film was a total flop. It would disrupt the narrative of the author who is currently popular.
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Patrik Hartl's film tells, in a rather artful way, the story of four friends who arrive in their lives at the Midlife Crisis station, trying to come to terms with this unwanted but almost necessary stop. Each member of the central quartet had a major problem in their life story, and their actors really inhabited their characters well – Hynek Čermák definitely impressed me the most, with Martin Pechlát close behind. Although the film has a comedy genre in its profile, it offers a lot of dramatic scenes in which the four protagonists try to grapple with "adult" problems using childish challenges and "heckling matches". The first challenge didn't quite work for me, but I was happy with the dramatic-comedic construction of the rest of the film. By Czech standards, an eminently believable film with solid performances and a a plot that is not shallow.
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This is when 4 friends get together at a class reunion; they're all in their 40s but acting like they're 6 years old. And I had the feeling that the time machine had taken me back to the time of the Czech director Poledňáková, when all men - regardless of age - were presented as "cute little guys". Only, there was some development in the females. These were not Poledňáková’s wise and understanding mothers as we know them (although one of them was aspiring to the Gandhi Award), instead they were angry, scared, upset or pushy. The plot doesn't make sense and nor do the background antics; dramatic interludes don't belong in this type of movie and it's further undermined by the performances of the adored actors whose acting in any movie never gets any further than being perpetually pissed. So they didn't come up with anything original here either. IN A NUTSHELL: How to voluntarily make a jerk of yourself to please your high school classmates... Oh, right, of course... Making a jerk of themselves was clearly not too much effort for these protagonists.
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I read the book, it entertained me, and I secretly hoped that when the author himself adapted the book into a screenplay and directed it, it could turn out well. And it did. Patrik Hartl did not disappoint Patrik Hartl and finally created a Czech comedy that I can genuinely enjoy. Without any effort. The cast of the four main roles smelled like perfection, Jana Kolesárová is already forty-five, but her sex appeal clearly doesn't care about that, humor and a subtle kind of sadness were present and active (but it wasn't some superficial Troška-esque nonsense) and I enjoyed it effortlessly. The author of the source material, the screenwriter, and the director managed to agree on the necessary (but unforced) shortening of the original text, and according to me, neither of the Hartls needs to be ashamed of the result. It was great, two hours passed like water, and I could easily endure it for a while longer. I'm glad that it succeeded once again in the domestic environment.
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