Men in the City (2009)

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The 2009 German comedy "Männerherzen" is a contender for best German film of the year and also one of the best taking all countries into account. Pretty much all bigger parts are played by Germany's acting elite (Schweiger, Ulmen, Uhl, Möhring, Fitz, von Dohnányi...). The only one I was not familiar with is Maxim Mehmet, but he has a respectable body of work too. The characters include a loner who meets a woman, her violent ex-husband, a pop singer, a womanizer, a man about to become a dad with no money at all and a man with last-minute panic shortly before his wedding. "Männerherzen" is Simon Verhoeven's second film as director/writer 8 years after his first. Since 2009, there has only been a sequel to "Männerherzen" in his body of work, so he is obviously not exactly prolific. However, he has done quite a bit of acting work ("Das Wunder von Bern") which is his real passion it seems. He also plays a minor character in this film here. On a side-note, Verhoeven is the son of famous German actress Senta Berger and director Michael Verhoeven (Oscar-nominated "The Nasty Girl").The ending of "Männerherzen" is fairly dramatic. A man gets thrown in an alligator's compound in a zoo, a pregnant woman is hit by a car, but as this is a comedy, everybody gets out in good health and only with minor injuries given the seriousness of the events. This film manages exactly to reach the right mixture of comedy and drama. Schweiger plays a role that is similar to his usual characters, but it's all good. he does a decent job with it. Wotan Wilke Möhring really impressed me here for the very first time. Glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel for his character at the end, even if it was maybe a tad too surprising for my liking. His character is not really a bad guy, he was just disappointed one time too many. Justus von Dohnányi won a supporting actor award at the German Film Awards for the unique pop musician he plays (great song as well, especially with the children's choir) and Nadja Uhl managed a nomination as well for a much more serious character. The fact that von Dohnányi's and Schweiger's characters carry both fake names show us that there is not much reality in show business. One scene I found funny was when the ruthless record producer says he is shocked what business turns some people into near the end. The irony. And pretty much everybody seems to get a happy ending. Or do they. The (slightly inferior) sequel told us they did not, some of them. Oh well.. it probably was not planned already when they made this.Stephan Luca and Bastian Pastewka brought some nice humor too with their alpha male / perfect houseman fights. This was particularly interesting as it was uncertain for a long time how Fitz' storyline would go and even with the way it went they turned it 360° in the sequel again. The revelation of Luca's character at the end was a highlight as well. This film has so many funny scenes, the only thing I criticize is how small the guinea-pig cage from Ulmen's character was and that you should never hold these animals alone. Nonetheless, animal activists can watch this too and forgive him in the light of all the other great moments from this film. Very much recommended. Not just another generic romcom. Not at all. And for people from Berlin it is especially worth watching as you will see many locations you have already been like the Alexanderplatz.

The cast could be declared a who is who of German comedy actors or actors in general. While I am not a big fan of Schweiger, but being in an ensemble movie, he is not really hurting. Actually his character has quite a few funny things coming at him. There is a lot to like here and a lot to see (well way more than US audiences would expect considering the German rating it got).You have some stock characters (homosexual) with the typical clichés painted on them and you have troubles that only men can have. Well at least that's what the movie is telling you. Clearly there are more than a couple of flaws just in that, but the movie is too much fun (good fun), to put it in a corner like that

This is one of my favorite movies to hit German theaters in years. I guess you can call it a romantic comedy, but it deals with the male side of the story, which is not always that romantic, but rather full of doubts, hesitations, male soul searching, leading to hysterical results. The actors are amazing, especially the new talents Maxim Mehmet and Florian David Fitz really deliver, the scenes are excellently written and perfectly executed and the visual style is beautiful and bold. This is a perfect movie for guys who are able to laugh at their own shortcomings, but women will love this film too, even if the guys are not portrayed as the romantic heroes they want them to be...

Saw this movie at the AFM. In my eyes, this is one of the best German comedies in years and it didn't surprise me to learn that this has become a big box office hit over there. Did not expect much cause the clumsy teutonic sense of humor usually is not my thing at all. But this movie feels rather "ungerman" as it is truly charming and witty and thoroughly well written and acted. The scenes are hysterical, but always remain realistic. Mannerherzen (male hearts) tells the stories of five guys going to the same gym in Berlin,with everyone trying to be a real man in his life and no one really having a clue what that actually means in our day and age. Their quests for happiness and romance are told from a strictly male point of view, which makes this comedy less corny and somewhat more edgy than the usual variations. The English title "men in the city" i find a bit misleading as this is not in the vain of the "sex in the city" movies. It feels less glossy and polished and more original and real, much more like "swingers". Definitely worth checking out.