"Ein unverbesserlicher Dickkopf" is a German television film from 2007 that runs for slightly under 1.5 hours as they usually do and this was not a good movie by any means. Let's go with the basics first of all though: The director is Michael Faust, who was already in his mid-60s back then, so not he is almost 80. His main profession was cinematography and while he worked also on some shows as a director, this one here is the only film where he was the man in charge. So you could somewhat say that he was not the most experienced despite his age. But I guess he just wanted to try it for once because he never directed anything else afterwards, worked on small projects again as a cinematographer and then retired. He certainly could have gone out on a higher note. However, the main issue here is not him, but the screenplay. The one in charge of that was Sophia Krapoth. She was in her late 30s back then, so nnow she is in her early 50s and (sadly) still working. Then again, maybe it is a good and motivational aspect that such an untalented screenplay writer can still find work in the German television industry, so everybody else can as well, although it does not say anything positive obviously about the quality overall. Now as you see already on the photo here on imdb, the lead actor is Fritz Wepper. Not too much to say about him. He is not really good, but also not among the worst aspects this film has to "offer". I always thought his brother Elmar is the more talented, even if Fritz is probably the far more prolific. At least in terms of exposure. You can see why if he agrees to appear in garbage movies like this one we have here. The working title here was "Balthasar" by the way, so the film would have been named after the main character, but it seems that eventually they picked another choice. Which does not surprise me at all because Balthasar neutrally implies something closer to a biopic while this film here already tells the stupid and easily influenced how they should perceive this character. Likeable in a grumpy way, but still a bit of a fool. Then again, it fits that they picked this title because ARD and their smaller stations sure want the people to suck everything in and not question anything, least of all the double-digit amount of Euros that German citizens are forced to pay every month for films like this one we have to be made. An abomination. A scandal.
Now back to the film at hand. Wepper's character decides to quit his job, the one in which he worked for decades apparently and there is no really valid reason for this decision. He immediately accepts another job (of course, so easy) and is busy wearing a ridiculous costume for advertizing purposes. While wearing said costume, he also runs into the woman who turns out to be his love interest eventually. What a coincidence. Even bigger coincidence: The two run into each other not much later again, so it must be fate right. Wepper here plays the dad of Jasmin Schwiers' character while his love interest is the mother of Nina Bott's character. So yeah, the cast here includes many actors that never managed to get past terrible soap opera level and it is pretty telling that Schwiers, who is usually pretty bad, is by no means cast member to give the worst performance in this movie. Even if they sure wrote her character in a way where she easily could have been. With all the pseudo drama in the relationship between her and her partner. The latter is played by Wanja Mues. I had no idea he was that bad. At least here, not sure about other films, but I am familiar with the name. The other woman looking at him near the end when he steps out of the train was really when the film hit rock bottom, not only because Anna Werner is about 10 times as attractive as Schwiers, but because it implies the usual from these films that men are all potential cheaters and the suspicion is always justified. Because of their gender. Now that is what I call actual discrimination. Anyway, in the most cringeworthy turn of events the guy was not even faithful (at least from what we know), but also all out of nowhere Schwiers' character is pregnant at the very end. And everybody is happy. Just give us the pseudo unrealistic happy ending. Ten minutes ago they were on the verge of break-up and now everything is super awesome again. Sigh. Wepper's character's story is not better and also packed with cringeworthy moments. Again, the woman is the one who deserves fighting for and he is just a likable idiot (as it says in the title). This is of course because probably 85% of viewers here are females. They cannot go one bit against the female gender. The characters have to be perfect, yet give audiences the impression that they are flawed so that they see themselves in these female characters. Anyway, it appears the writer completely forgot the job story with which the film began and simply turned this into a bland relationship movie that never made sense. Just take the momet of conflict when he is not ready to really show her his affections and she is all mad and he takes his distance too again and suddenly they are all formal again. It was so cringeworthy. Nothing that happened there (or did not happen) justified these reactions. It was all a joke and not a good one. But of course, there is the reunion when she admited she is still very interested and he makes a fool of himself again with the costume. By the way, right before that we also hear her during her guided tour speak English to the group of Asians, who spot him first, and we are supposed to see how educated she is with her brilliant English. It is all so fake and manipulative really. An utter travesty this movie. Fat thumbs-down. Highly not recommended. No matter which perspective you take here or which production value you focus on, this film is a failure. Then again what would you expect from ARD Degeto. If you expect quality, then honestly you deserve to be tricked. 99% of their films are utter garbage. This one here is no exception and of course it also has the pseudo important, over-the-top soundtrack like the others. Yeah, enough said. This is by definition a comedy, but you not laugh twice. Probably not even once. I say: Keep your distance at any cost. The saddest thing here is that they were actually taking themselves completely seriously (for example with the stereotypical tear-jerking story about his dead wife) and pretending that this was a quality movie. You can feel the ambition. But the one thing you will feel a lot more is the complete absence of talent. A travesty that this is not only still shown way over a decade after it was made, but especially that this aired in the best time slot even on a Sunday night. Unreal and it says it all about the sad state German television is in right now, especially in terms of films.
Now back to the film at hand. Wepper's character decides to quit his job, the one in which he worked for decades apparently and there is no really valid reason for this decision. He immediately accepts another job (of course, so easy) and is busy wearing a ridiculous costume for advertizing purposes. While wearing said costume, he also runs into the woman who turns out to be his love interest eventually. What a coincidence. Even bigger coincidence: The two run into each other not much later again, so it must be fate right. Wepper here plays the dad of Jasmin Schwiers' character while his love interest is the mother of Nina Bott's character. So yeah, the cast here includes many actors that never managed to get past terrible soap opera level and it is pretty telling that Schwiers, who is usually pretty bad, is by no means cast member to give the worst performance in this movie. Even if they sure wrote her character in a way where she easily could have been. With all the pseudo drama in the relationship between her and her partner. The latter is played by Wanja Mues. I had no idea he was that bad. At least here, not sure about other films, but I am familiar with the name. The other woman looking at him near the end when he steps out of the train was really when the film hit rock bottom, not only because Anna Werner is about 10 times as attractive as Schwiers, but because it implies the usual from these films that men are all potential cheaters and the suspicion is always justified. Because of their gender. Now that is what I call actual discrimination. Anyway, in the most cringeworthy turn of events the guy was not even faithful (at least from what we know), but also all out of nowhere Schwiers' character is pregnant at the very end. And everybody is happy. Just give us the pseudo unrealistic happy ending. Ten minutes ago they were on the verge of break-up and now everything is super awesome again. Sigh. Wepper's character's story is not better and also packed with cringeworthy moments. Again, the woman is the one who deserves fighting for and he is just a likable idiot (as it says in the title). This is of course because probably 85% of viewers here are females. They cannot go one bit against the female gender. The characters have to be perfect, yet give audiences the impression that they are flawed so that they see themselves in these female characters. Anyway, it appears the writer completely forgot the job story with which the film began and simply turned this into a bland relationship movie that never made sense. Just take the momet of conflict when he is not ready to really show her his affections and she is all mad and he takes his distance too again and suddenly they are all formal again. It was so cringeworthy. Nothing that happened there (or did not happen) justified these reactions. It was all a joke and not a good one. But of course, there is the reunion when she admited she is still very interested and he makes a fool of himself again with the costume. By the way, right before that we also hear her during her guided tour speak English to the group of Asians, who spot him first, and we are supposed to see how educated she is with her brilliant English. It is all so fake and manipulative really. An utter travesty this movie. Fat thumbs-down. Highly not recommended. No matter which perspective you take here or which production value you focus on, this film is a failure. Then again what would you expect from ARD Degeto. If you expect quality, then honestly you deserve to be tricked. 99% of their films are utter garbage. This one here is no exception and of course it also has the pseudo important, over-the-top soundtrack like the others. Yeah, enough said. This is by definition a comedy, but you not laugh twice. Probably not even once. I say: Keep your distance at any cost. The saddest thing here is that they were actually taking themselves completely seriously (for example with the stereotypical tear-jerking story about his dead wife) and pretending that this was a quality movie. You can feel the ambition. But the one thing you will feel a lot more is the complete absence of talent. A travesty that this is not only still shown way over a decade after it was made, but especially that this aired in the best time slot even on a Sunday night. Unreal and it says it all about the sad state German television is in right now, especially in terms of films.
