"Verliebt in Kroatien", which means "In love with Croatia", is a German television movie that premiered in late February 2020, which means that this is just a week old now and it is not uncommon for German TV movies that they are repeated on several occasions immediately after their premiere, so I got "lucky" to watch this one yesterday. It runs for slightly below 90 minutes, which is true for the vast majority of German small screen releases and actually a good thing because most of them are pretty bad that they do not drag towards the 2-hour mark. Now this one here was not bad and actually it had its moments when I considered giving it an even higher rating and also a positive recommendation, but in the end, it just wasn't enough quality-wise. Still it must be said that there are many many other German television films that are way worse and deserve only one star out of five, especially when romance is the key genre. The title already gives away that this film is set in Croatia and this is also where the majority of it was shot. Shot, in the sense of "directed", by Bruno Grass whose name immediately made me think of the late Bruno Ganz, but Grass definitely does not possess the same talent. Just like his two writers here, he is fairly (but not very) experienced, but not enough to turn this into a really convincing watch. There were good parts without a doubt, but for every quality moment/scene there is also one scene/moment on the other end of the scale that makes things equal again from a negative perspective. I will just give two examples. One I did not like that also did not feel too realistic is how the two women even help each other a lot in the end and become friends almost. Still, it was much nicer than a stupid blind depiction of the new girlfriend as an evil, cold-blooded antagonist the way we would have seen it in many other films. Maybe it also helped that the former girlfriend is not the one central character here. There actually is not one central character, it is all about the ensemble. In my case, it probably helped that I found both girls pretty attractive (Richter and Schulz). I certainly don't mean Vester with that, who in my opinion is not a gifted actress, physically a very poor man's Martha Plimpton you could say. That is her name right? The one from Goonies and that comedy show with the baby. Oh well, not too important anyway, but Vester looks a bit like her, just older. Okay, what I actually wanted to say (excuse the all-over-the-place brainstorming) another scene I did not like, which maybe was the very worst of the film because this felt so pseudo dramatic was the scene when the guy is missing and we see these traces of blood and should be worried something happened to him. Or maybe he drowned even. But of course, this film is far too light for something like that, so it is really clear nothing serious happened to him. But it was a crucial scene because it triggered his change in mind that this life is not for him and keeping this in mind, it was really poor writing there. Or maybe, it is also at least partially subjective here from my side becaue I felt the guy character was as bad and bland and Sebastian Fräsdorf's performance. Not a talented actor.
So i already mentioned Vester and she is probably the most known actress here, but "most known" does not equal "best" because several other cast members played ther parts better here despite the limitations in the screenplay. Another example of where the film is really not at its best is everything linked to the brother/uncle who starts courting Vester's character. Soory, but when he spoke in such an exaggerated manner about her beauty, I did cringe. In general, this entire subplot was just filler material to somehow make it to the 88-minute mark. There's more of that unfoortunately. But luckily there are also better parts like how the father bonds with the son's new girlfriend. That was nice, even if the introduction to this relationship with the "contagious" question about her being an influencer is also a bit on the try-hard side and not particularly funny because this joke has been done so many times and most of the time better than here. Then again, those people who watched it (females 40+, maybe 50+ even) are not too familiar with the concept of social media influencers, so they found it funny. Anyway, what I actually tried to say is that how the dad and Mila interacted was nice and interesting to watch and also about his dreams of breaking free and how she helps him to make an extraordinary experience. Just one example why this film is not a failure. Like I said, many other films/scripts would have depicted Mila as a really unlikable character in the most stupid manner and totally manipulated the audience, but not so this one here. On the contrary really. She really grows on us more and more the longer the film goes and we see how she actually loves the man (God knows why with how much of a scrub he is). To an extent where no matter with whom he stays, it will be a bit of a happy ending in any scenario. Also this lack of predictability was something you don't get too often in German small screen films and this totally made for a nice change. So overall, you should not mistake this film because of it's slightly uninspired title for something like those many films that are named "Eine Liebe in" ("A Love in"), which are really hopelessly untolerable romance dramas. I'm sure there is also one about Croatia. This one here is more about the comedy most of the time and even stuff like when the parents give them this special gift early on and then think she is pregnant, but reality is they broke up, were somewhat funny and entertaining although this has been done so many times. There is some kind of charm to the entire project here, even without known cast members. Or at least occasionally. It is watchable during its better phases, but never really good, let alone impressive. So my suggestion is you skip this one. Thumbs down.
So i already mentioned Vester and she is probably the most known actress here, but "most known" does not equal "best" because several other cast members played ther parts better here despite the limitations in the screenplay. Another example of where the film is really not at its best is everything linked to the brother/uncle who starts courting Vester's character. Soory, but when he spoke in such an exaggerated manner about her beauty, I did cringe. In general, this entire subplot was just filler material to somehow make it to the 88-minute mark. There's more of that unfoortunately. But luckily there are also better parts like how the father bonds with the son's new girlfriend. That was nice, even if the introduction to this relationship with the "contagious" question about her being an influencer is also a bit on the try-hard side and not particularly funny because this joke has been done so many times and most of the time better than here. Then again, those people who watched it (females 40+, maybe 50+ even) are not too familiar with the concept of social media influencers, so they found it funny. Anyway, what I actually tried to say is that how the dad and Mila interacted was nice and interesting to watch and also about his dreams of breaking free and how she helps him to make an extraordinary experience. Just one example why this film is not a failure. Like I said, many other films/scripts would have depicted Mila as a really unlikable character in the most stupid manner and totally manipulated the audience, but not so this one here. On the contrary really. She really grows on us more and more the longer the film goes and we see how she actually loves the man (God knows why with how much of a scrub he is). To an extent where no matter with whom he stays, it will be a bit of a happy ending in any scenario. Also this lack of predictability was something you don't get too often in German small screen films and this totally made for a nice change. So overall, you should not mistake this film because of it's slightly uninspired title for something like those many films that are named "Eine Liebe in" ("A Love in"), which are really hopelessly untolerable romance dramas. I'm sure there is also one about Croatia. This one here is more about the comedy most of the time and even stuff like when the parents give them this special gift early on and then think she is pregnant, but reality is they broke up, were somewhat funny and entertaining although this has been done so many times. There is some kind of charm to the entire project here, even without known cast members. Or at least occasionally. It is watchable during its better phases, but never really good, let alone impressive. So my suggestion is you skip this one. Thumbs down.
