"Grüß Gott, Herr Anwalt" is a German television film from 2007, so this one is already way over a decade old. The title is basically one half a Bavarian salutation form to make clear where the film is set and the second half is an inclusion of the protagonist's profession. He is a lawyer. Not a great title, but okay overall I suppose. The working title they had "Ein Fall für Mair" is probably worse because it says even less than the actual one about which direction this film is heading and what it is about. Here on imdb, it says that the movie is over a 100 minutes long, but I am not sure this is correct. The version I watched today ran for 90 minutes and this is the standard runtime for small screen releases here in my country, so unless they cut it down a bit, the 103 minutes stated here on imdb are incorrect. The director is Walter Bannert and he was really very prolific, especially with series, but this film is from a brief phase where he focused on movies. He seems retired now. No surprise looking at his age. And all except the age reference also applies to the two writers Föhr and Letocha. A bit surprised to see they apparently have been retired too for a few years, but well they also sure worked enough before that. Sadly, however, their bodies of work are even worse I'd say compared to the director's and that means something. Also, it seems that they seemingly collaborated for a really long time. I always find it a bit shocking to see two writers work on a film when the screenplay turns out weak because apparently they were not capable of seeing each other's flaws and mistakes, which eventually means they are both not very talented, but if a collaboration even spans over decades like it is with them apparently, then it is especially devastating because not even after the final release of a project they see that their collaborations are neither fruitful nor result in good quality. So much for the basics here. As for the cast, I would say that I as a German film buff recognized some faces here, but there are no stars included in this one and the names also do not ring much of a bell, even if I have seen them in other stuff too. Gerd Anthoff as the lead actor is already pretty telling. I mean he isn't bad or anything, but nothing clicked with him for me at all. In contrast to supporting players like Held, Fierek, Ronstedt and Feifel. Maybe more. And of course Sebastian Bezzel. He only has two scenes or so, but with all he did after this film, he is easy to identify. Also kinda fitting that he shows up in this movie because it is a bit of a trailblazer for many German comedies with focus on certain regions here in my country and especially the humor from these regions.
So this is certainly a positive thing I can say here. I did like the comedy at times. It is unorthodox and sometimes pretty dark humor, like when we see the guy early on who is about to commit suicide at the rails, but does not know that there will be no train coming anytime soon. It is alright situational comedy. And it does not take itself seriously, which is always nice. However, away from the comedy, it is not a good film. There are just too many characters in here, too many ideas, too many plots and it all feels rushed. If we take the sale of a wanted property, if we include the protagonist's daughter and granddaughter coming for a visit, if we include romance on many occasions, for example unrequited love, if we include the main character's romantic endeavors (or sexual, just implied), if we include the idea of a man having an illegitimate child and how he tries to tell his wife, who eventually knows already, or if we just include all the legal complications in this film. It would have been enough for a 4.5-hour miniseries to be honest. But for a 1.5-hour movie (also 105-minute movie), it just isn't working at all. Better focus was needed here for sure. Resulting from better writing. A bit of a pity they messed up on this front so hard because despite not being particularly known, the cast is pretty decent overall with their performances and you can see they have a certain talent and bring a lot of experience, probably just in films I have not seen. Also there was really no need to put everything in this little film because there are implications that maybe they had plans to bring back Anthoff as Mair for more films, just like it happened with Bezzel's movies later on for example. They totally could have done it and included some of the stories here in sequels. Still, it is an alright watch if we focus more on the individual scenes than on the big picture. They are entertaining enough and, like I said, succeed thanks to individually creative situational comedy and the actors pulling it off. For example the scene with the dog and the chaos resulting from it in the second half was good too and I smiled. But also here and there on a more serious note, the film works alright, like when the protagonist questions his own moral integrity with the little blackmail idea. But hey, it's all for the good cause and it works somehow because even there you feel that the film does not take itself seriously. However, all in all, it may be better (actually way better) than what you usually get from ARD Degeto, but that does not mean much because you usually get nothing good at all. Here you get the occasional good, but overall not enough for a positive recommendation either. Pity. The potential was there from several perspectives. I give this film a cautious thumbs-down, here and there not an easy choice, and suggest you skip the watch and go for something else instead.
So this is certainly a positive thing I can say here. I did like the comedy at times. It is unorthodox and sometimes pretty dark humor, like when we see the guy early on who is about to commit suicide at the rails, but does not know that there will be no train coming anytime soon. It is alright situational comedy. And it does not take itself seriously, which is always nice. However, away from the comedy, it is not a good film. There are just too many characters in here, too many ideas, too many plots and it all feels rushed. If we take the sale of a wanted property, if we include the protagonist's daughter and granddaughter coming for a visit, if we include romance on many occasions, for example unrequited love, if we include the main character's romantic endeavors (or sexual, just implied), if we include the idea of a man having an illegitimate child and how he tries to tell his wife, who eventually knows already, or if we just include all the legal complications in this film. It would have been enough for a 4.5-hour miniseries to be honest. But for a 1.5-hour movie (also 105-minute movie), it just isn't working at all. Better focus was needed here for sure. Resulting from better writing. A bit of a pity they messed up on this front so hard because despite not being particularly known, the cast is pretty decent overall with their performances and you can see they have a certain talent and bring a lot of experience, probably just in films I have not seen. Also there was really no need to put everything in this little film because there are implications that maybe they had plans to bring back Anthoff as Mair for more films, just like it happened with Bezzel's movies later on for example. They totally could have done it and included some of the stories here in sequels. Still, it is an alright watch if we focus more on the individual scenes than on the big picture. They are entertaining enough and, like I said, succeed thanks to individually creative situational comedy and the actors pulling it off. For example the scene with the dog and the chaos resulting from it in the second half was good too and I smiled. But also here and there on a more serious note, the film works alright, like when the protagonist questions his own moral integrity with the little blackmail idea. But hey, it's all for the good cause and it works somehow because even there you feel that the film does not take itself seriously. However, all in all, it may be better (actually way better) than what you usually get from ARD Degeto, but that does not mean much because you usually get nothing good at all. Here you get the occasional good, but overall not enough for a positive recommendation either. Pity. The potential was there from several perspectives. I give this film a cautious thumbs-down, here and there not an easy choice, and suggest you skip the watch and go for something else instead.
