"2 für alle Fälle - Manche mögen Mord" is a German television film from 2012, so this one is moving closer to its 10th anniversary and this anniversary actually applies this year for the original movie featuring the "2 für alle Fälle" that came out 2 years earlier. They kept it at 2 films and that is alright because there is a bit of a decline in quality as you can see from the title of my review too. It's not horribly bad like many other television films from Germany, but the humor by lead actors Fedder (rip) and Milberg can only make up for so much in terms of the poor writing here. Most of the time, they almost ignore the crime aspect and merely go for comedy. That is alright, but when they really try to get in punchlines and jokes every single scene, almost every single dialogue, then at some point it is too much unless they have a really talented comedy writer. And Wolfgang Limmer is not one who fits the description. Despite his experience. Christoph Schnee's direction is also not a revelation to be honest for the most part. As for the cast, you will find several other actors in here that German film buffs will reognize: Lars Rudolph has great recognition value of course and he was presented to the audience as the weirdo (who does not have it) that stares constantly at women and may be a murder suspect. The obvious choice that is, even if the real killer (or even killers) is/are exposed at the end and they are those who you would not suspect initially, also because of their competent looks. But then again, the entire crime story was completely stupid and a mess. Don't even get me started about how Milberg's character gets a lawyer. And who he gets. And how he becomes a suspect. It is so ridiculously bad and unrealistic. None of it could have happened like this in real life. Also it felt extremely rushed at the end because obviously they had to stay under 90 minutes and still get in a crowd please ending the way these films usually have it.
I would probably give an even lower rating because honestly only Fedder's and Milberg's banter and how they trolled each other kept this film mildly entertaining. The crime story definitey does not deserve two stars out of five, but rather two out of ten. The music is not too great either and same is true about the romance aspects and who wants who and who does not want who. Then again they kill off the rich lady and bring up the most stupid testament story immediately afterwards. Still with this murder, even if it came a bit unexpected and anything unexpected was good here honestly because this film is so shallow all in all, it always felt for the sake of it too because they somehow had to make it to the 1.5-hour mark and as rushed as the film felt towards the end, as slow did it feel in the middle as if they really had nothing to report anymore. The two protagonists sure were somewhat charming, but they can't turn water into wine either. Oh yeah, Nina Petri ("Lola rennt") was in it too and she at least made the cringeworthy moments obvious, like the "Bodyguard" reference or the song quote after the two potential lovebirds perform earlier. That's why I kinda liked her character, even if she as not too good or interesting either. Luckily, this film rarely really took itself seriously, which was honestly a good thing because it had no right to in terms of anything related to the crime story. Okay I guess this is pretty much all then. Honestly, I would not have been too mad if this film never would have been made, but it was definitely the right decision to stop after this one and not make a third. As much positive I want to say about Milberg and Fedder here, it still must be said that tehy frequently play the same characters in almost every film they are in and also are not among the most versatile actors, especially Fedder, even if I should say "were" about him. Alright, that is all. I give this film a thumbs-down. Do not watch, not even if you liked the first film because I liked that one too and this one here not so much. Maybe only if you really loved the first and one of the two leads here is among your favorites. I still say I smiled here and there, especially the roulette dialogue, which was maybe the best moment from the entire film, but certainly not frequently enough for a movie that runs for over an hour. Skip.
I would probably give an even lower rating because honestly only Fedder's and Milberg's banter and how they trolled each other kept this film mildly entertaining. The crime story definitey does not deserve two stars out of five, but rather two out of ten. The music is not too great either and same is true about the romance aspects and who wants who and who does not want who. Then again they kill off the rich lady and bring up the most stupid testament story immediately afterwards. Still with this murder, even if it came a bit unexpected and anything unexpected was good here honestly because this film is so shallow all in all, it always felt for the sake of it too because they somehow had to make it to the 1.5-hour mark and as rushed as the film felt towards the end, as slow did it feel in the middle as if they really had nothing to report anymore. The two protagonists sure were somewhat charming, but they can't turn water into wine either. Oh yeah, Nina Petri ("Lola rennt") was in it too and she at least made the cringeworthy moments obvious, like the "Bodyguard" reference or the song quote after the two potential lovebirds perform earlier. That's why I kinda liked her character, even if she as not too good or interesting either. Luckily, this film rarely really took itself seriously, which was honestly a good thing because it had no right to in terms of anything related to the crime story. Okay I guess this is pretty much all then. Honestly, I would not have been too mad if this film never would have been made, but it was definitely the right decision to stop after this one and not make a third. As much positive I want to say about Milberg and Fedder here, it still must be said that tehy frequently play the same characters in almost every film they are in and also are not among the most versatile actors, especially Fedder, even if I should say "were" about him. Alright, that is all. I give this film a thumbs-down. Do not watch, not even if you liked the first film because I liked that one too and this one here not so much. Maybe only if you really loved the first and one of the two leads here is among your favorites. I still say I smiled here and there, especially the roulette dialogue, which was maybe the best moment from the entire film, but certainly not frequently enough for a movie that runs for over an hour. Skip.
