The Good: Great production values! The producers had obviously a lot of money to spend, and they've spent it well. Kudos to the location scouts in Berlin - a good mix of well known and nice lesser known places. A few expensive German actors have been hired: Udo Kier (who became famous in 1973/1974 by impersonating Baron von Frankenstein AND Count Dracula in the two Andy Warhol horror movies) plays a crazy artist and father. Til Schweiger, arguably the biggest German movie star right now, appears in episode 3. Katharina Thalbach, the Grand Dame of the Berlin theatre, plays a ghoulish mix of Lotte Lenya (From Russia with Love), some character by Ingmar Bergman ("Sweden is in Germany, right?" - The screenwriters.) and a crazy old lady. Granted, only Udo Kier should be a part of this good news section. But this is a musical and the most important aspect is of course the musical quality. The music is well produced and nice. Unremarkable, but nice. Actually there should have been more of it.
The Strange: The casting! There are quite a few questionable and strange casting choices. I guess Adam Devine is an acquired taste, something I did not quite manage to achieve. He is the goofy normal guy and I respect the choice to make him the star of a show and not just the comic relief sidekick, but I'm sure he'll annoy a few people. Very annoying is the permanent grimacing of Flula Borg. He looks like he's got some severe mental problems. Whoever told him to act this way made a big mistake.- Some scenes are completely nonsensical, confusing strangeness with humor. A prime example for this is the appearance by Til Schweiger in a Youtube-2017-like sketch as Pickle Til. It is desperately unfunny, but there are layers upon layers of absurdities.
The Bad: The ignorance! The screenwriters didn't have the foggiest idea about Germany. They got everything wrong, and they didn't care at all. Using some stereotypes for humorous effects is fine, but the total ignorance is just lame and stupid. US-screenwriters in the 1970s have been much more culturally savvy that this bunch of hacks. The writers' ignorance is universal. At one point they have a bureaucrat, who spends his leisure time at a music festival, legally perform a marriage. There is no country on earth, where this is possible. "But that's the joke!" No, it isn't. This is a musical and the story is clichéd and silly, alright. But especially in episode 6 this reaches levels of sillyness and cringe that shouldn't even be possible. There is no discernible connection to reality. Going completely over the top can be a stylistic device, but here it only feels amateurish, childish and sluggish. The authors probably feel like high-riders, thinking big and stunning the plebs. That's funny. They should not give up their daytime jobs. They are terrible.
The Bottom Line: Technically fine, but utter nonsense - watch it with really low expectations.
The Strange: The casting! There are quite a few questionable and strange casting choices. I guess Adam Devine is an acquired taste, something I did not quite manage to achieve. He is the goofy normal guy and I respect the choice to make him the star of a show and not just the comic relief sidekick, but I'm sure he'll annoy a few people. Very annoying is the permanent grimacing of Flula Borg. He looks like he's got some severe mental problems. Whoever told him to act this way made a big mistake.- Some scenes are completely nonsensical, confusing strangeness with humor. A prime example for this is the appearance by Til Schweiger in a Youtube-2017-like sketch as Pickle Til. It is desperately unfunny, but there are layers upon layers of absurdities.
The Bad: The ignorance! The screenwriters didn't have the foggiest idea about Germany. They got everything wrong, and they didn't care at all. Using some stereotypes for humorous effects is fine, but the total ignorance is just lame and stupid. US-screenwriters in the 1970s have been much more culturally savvy that this bunch of hacks. The writers' ignorance is universal. At one point they have a bureaucrat, who spends his leisure time at a music festival, legally perform a marriage. There is no country on earth, where this is possible. "But that's the joke!" No, it isn't. This is a musical and the story is clichéd and silly, alright. But especially in episode 6 this reaches levels of sillyness and cringe that shouldn't even be possible. There is no discernible connection to reality. Going completely over the top can be a stylistic device, but here it only feels amateurish, childish and sluggish. The authors probably feel like high-riders, thinking big and stunning the plebs. That's funny. They should not give up their daytime jobs. They are terrible.
The Bottom Line: Technically fine, but utter nonsense - watch it with really low expectations.