110% Honest (2019) User Reviews

Blak comedy satire about a cyclist admitting doping

[OJT · 6/10 · 15 November 2021]

I went into this with no expectations at all due to the low score on imdb, though only with a few votes, but was positively surprised.

110 % Honest (Or in Norwegian: Hjelperytteren) is absolutely funny, where it gives sports doping new face. The dopers and the family arond wich have been supporter of the doping, and don't really understand why this is such a big deal.

We meet former pro cyclist Kimberley "Kim" Karlsen (39) just moments before she holds a press conference admitting use of performance enhancing drugs in her career. We are taken behind the scenes of a doping scandal as it starts rolling, and observes how Kim tackles her fall from grace. Rather than accepting the consequences of her actions, our antiheroine refuses to alter her mindset. Everybody in sports wants to cheat.

Though cheating on a mtah test, like her daugther does, is not accepted. Why? You don't learn anything from it!

The movie is jannicke Systad Jacobsen's second feature film after the much accalimt "Turn me on, God damit" which won a lot of prizes and festival accalamation.

Well done, and serves us some really good laughs.

So much potential

[Jake-46 · 6/10 · 24 October 2022]

I thought the start of the movie was really good. Very interesting and realistic about a former cyclist who has been caught taking drugs. She doesn't really regret it, since everyone else was cheating as well (which was actually true), and says she would have done the same all over again. Everyone distances themselves from her, including her husband, even if he was already fully aware of what was going on (and we feel that many of the other characters also knew, just pretended not to).

The movie slowly starts losing direction though. The introduction of the elephant (brilliantly voiced by Frøydis Armand in her last movie) was weird, and when the UFO appeared at the end of the movie it was a bit too much WTF.

The storylines of her and Marie Louise as well as her and Grete were both interesting and should have been developed more.

We also understand her father has Alzheimer or something similar, but again, they could have done so much more on this topic.

Maybe it was a bit unrealistic to see how popular she became after making the "110% Honest" short movie, but it's OK.

Acting overall is good. Nader Khademi is entertaining, as usual. There were some funny moments, but still wouldn't call it a comedy. Not a bad movie, but could have been so much better, the subject was very interesting.

6/10.