Cinema Report #25 - Eyjafjallajökull
And this was another comedy I hadn’t really intended to watch, but then it was shown as Sneak-Preview. I also have to admit that this one, too, turned out better than I had expected - although it was rather evil and had quite a lot of black humour.
Basically, it’s about a man and a woman who want to attend their daughter’s wedding in Greece. They have separated a long time ago and not on the best terms, in fact it becomes clear rather fast that they loathe each other. Actually, you learn right away that while the man may wish his ex-wife was dead, the woman bluntly pretends her ex-husband has died and that she is glad about it. Chaos, mean tricks and hate rants start when their flight gets delayed due to the volcano eruption, because they are sort of forced to travel together now.
That is - the available means of transports may force them to do so, but they certainly try to get rid of the other one. All the while, the woman is more evil and reckless and you really want to hit her and feel sorry for the man. Yes, he plays some tricks on her, too, yet never in such an unfair and childish manner that seem not to care who else gets hurt. It also soon becomes obvious that he regrets their separation, although he seems happy with his new family. I believe he would have liked to try harder to make his original family work, but his ex-wife obviously didn't want that.
While their battle of wits and their dialogues are rather funny nevertheless, you also feel sorry for the daughter. Step by step you learn that she has suffered from that rivalry between her parents and although she seems to have been raised to a smart and reasonable young woman in her father’s new family, she clearly is aware that she can’t rely on both of her biological parents. They may try to hide their troubles and personal war from her, but she is not fooled. So it’s her openly voiced disappointment in them as well as the man’s willingness to protect his ex-wife with his life despite all her meanness that makes them finally work together in a fashion.
Once they have made peace, the story concentrates on being a crazy and hilarious road-movie. Of course, everything that can remotely go wrong keeps going wrong. So they do make it just in time to the wedding, both of them and their daughter can even sort of enjoy the following party - but then they get arrested by the local police, because they have wreaked quite a lot of havoc on their way there. In fact, I did like this touch of reality, because a lot of this film was just ridiculous.
Basically, it’s about a man and a woman who want to attend their daughter’s wedding in Greece. They have separated a long time ago and not on the best terms, in fact it becomes clear rather fast that they loathe each other. Actually, you learn right away that while the man may wish his ex-wife was dead, the woman bluntly pretends her ex-husband has died and that she is glad about it. Chaos, mean tricks and hate rants start when their flight gets delayed due to the volcano eruption, because they are sort of forced to travel together now.
That is - the available means of transports may force them to do so, but they certainly try to get rid of the other one. All the while, the woman is more evil and reckless and you really want to hit her and feel sorry for the man. Yes, he plays some tricks on her, too, yet never in such an unfair and childish manner that seem not to care who else gets hurt. It also soon becomes obvious that he regrets their separation, although he seems happy with his new family. I believe he would have liked to try harder to make his original family work, but his ex-wife obviously didn't want that.
While their battle of wits and their dialogues are rather funny nevertheless, you also feel sorry for the daughter. Step by step you learn that she has suffered from that rivalry between her parents and although she seems to have been raised to a smart and reasonable young woman in her father’s new family, she clearly is aware that she can’t rely on both of her biological parents. They may try to hide their troubles and personal war from her, but she is not fooled. So it’s her openly voiced disappointment in them as well as the man’s willingness to protect his ex-wife with his life despite all her meanness that makes them finally work together in a fashion.
Once they have made peace, the story concentrates on being a crazy and hilarious road-movie. Of course, everything that can remotely go wrong keeps going wrong. So they do make it just in time to the wedding, both of them and their daughter can even sort of enjoy the following party - but then they get arrested by the local police, because they have wreaked quite a lot of havoc on their way there. In fact, I did like this touch of reality, because a lot of this film was just ridiculous.