"Als meine Frau mein Chef wurde" is a German television film from 2013, so this one has its seventh anniversary this year and depending on when you get here, it could very well be that the outcome is already over a decade old. Sadly, this one will probably be on national television for another five or even ten years. Nothing to be proud of. Your GEZ money at work. The title basically means "When my wife became my boss", but for the international title they picked "My Wife, My Boss", which sadly means that this film is even shown outside of Germany apparently. This title is by the way the translation of the German working title. Not sure if this is any better than the one they wwent with, maybe slightly. But we should not lose too much time and words on the title anyway because I would be perfectly fine with this one carrying an abysmal title if it is still a decent watch. I don't even wanna say "great". Obviously this would never be the case. Truth is it is a terrible watch. I will get to that later in the second paragraph. Also nobody should really be surprised by how atrocious it all turned out here. ARD Degeto being in charge of the production is almost always a safe indicator that a film will not be worth watching. And that is already gently-speaking. And if then, the absolutely not artistic Theaterkunst GmbH is also involved, then you know there is only one single appropriate reaction to this film. Keeping a great deal of distance. The director is Matthias Steurer from Austria and he has started in the early 1990s, but did not become too prolific before the 2000s where he sadly worked on one weak project after the next. His body is not disastrous, but fairly weak overall. I think there are some decent films from Austria these days, for a while actually. Crime movies with some very dark humor, but his efforts do not belong one but in this company. Of course, this is not even a crime movie from any perspective unless you are really digging deep in terms of the male protagonist's plans, but it is also not really a comedy. At least it is absolutely unfunny, even if sometimes it tries to be going for humor. As for the cast, you see the two main characters on the photo here, the two lead actors. This film is basically elaborating for the oh so funny and oh so dramatic idea of role switching when the woman becomes the man's boss. Later more. The female lead is Marie-Lou Sellem. I was shocked by how poor she was. I mean I am perfectly fine with the character not being a happy-go-lucky source of constant delight, but reality is Sellem barely got in one different face expression per 30 minutes. Unwatchable most of the time. She sleepwalks her way through this movie and what is even worse is that it feels as if she was trying. The male lead here is played by Götz Schubert. Well, what can I say about him. He has been in some of these trashy films too. Obviously with his stature and bald head, there is some masculinity coming with him. He's neither Heino Ferch nor peak Heiner Lauterbach, but still. Maybe this is also one reason why they picked him here. But yeah, having to deal with his wife being his boss is a challenge for sure for a man who is not a weak beta male. Or at least they want us to think it is. Not sure if it really is. The supporting cast includes some older actors who have been in the industry for a long time like Pleitgen, Breuer and Becker too. I am not too familiar with them, but I feel they were kinda wasted here. One person I did not mention yet is Edda Leesch, the writer. But I will do so now because she is the main reason why this film sucked so hard with its terrible script. She has worked as an actress for a long time before focusing on writing and screenplays, but her "effort" here is perfect evidence how she absolutely has zero talent as a writer. A look at all the other trash she worked on in the ten years before this film makes it very obvious that hiring her means your film will become a disaster. It may sound harsh, but it's true. Luckily, she has not written any screenplays since 2017 (according to imdb), so hhopefully she stopped altogether, although at under the age of 60 I would not be too sure.
Now a few words on the plot and story here. I already mentioned some key aspects earlier. I will be honest. The moment Schubert's character is still joking about her being the boss was not bad, but the absolutely ironic thing is that what he was oking about even became reality afterwards in the most ridiculous sense possible. And I don't mean "ridiculous" in a positive sense at all here. Absolutely not. The opposite is the case. But ut was also these smaller moments whhere the film sucked a lot, not only the key story. Just take the second she sits down on te boss chair for the first time and it won't hold her. What was that supposed to mean? That her boss is playing a mean game with her? That many struggles will be ahead? It has been the most pathetic use of foreshadowing and metaphors I have seen in quite some time. Or afterwards when the woman working outside as receptionist or so or secretary talks via webcam to the old man and how he has his camera not in the right spot and when he corrects it, is wrong on the other end of the scale. These were those little shots at humor the film had to offer and it was cringeworthy to watch honestly. Of course, after more pathetic inclusions like the boss really missing at home what they were initially joking about, the movie gets worse and worse. Take the dog eating a whole chicken and having to throw up afterwards again for example. Oh yes, like many other times, this film is fully anti-male again as usual. Be it the sleazy main antagonist and his shenanigans, the latter's father who is also incompetent until his final scene when he helps the female protagonist and talks tacheles (as we say in German) to him. By the way, very realistic that Pleitgen's character makes sure the old man arrives and sees what happens to his company. And don't even get me started about Pleitgen's character now probably starting a romantic relationship with the receptionist. Sigh. Very weak also how she says on one occasion something like nobody's waiting for her. I guess there they wanted to appeal to lonesome people in the audience, but it all feels so fake and staged and actually it made me think that is almost a bit insulting to actual loners. They want all the emotions, but they do not get iin one bit of talent. As for the anti-male aspect again, of course Schubert's character is also tempted to have an affair because men just cannot be faithful. Or at least not 100% faithful, but in the end he realizes of course how Sellem's character is so desirable and the best and most stunning etc. and returns to her. And yes, the receptionist is fixed too. She seemed a bit like a minor antagonist as well early on, but Sellem's character's dedication and competence won her over. After all she is a female, so she cannot be evil or anything. Okay, well what else is there to say. It is absolutely ridiculous everything, also how they definitely went big with constant talk and negotiations that would result in the end of the company. Obviously. If dreaming big means an outcome like the one we have here, then I'd rather not dream at all. Again, it may sound harsh, but it was truly this bad. Just wanna make sure you all skip the watch here. There are probably at least half a dozen other scenes and inclusions and twists, actually probably a full dozen, I could mention and criticize here, but I shall skip this endeavor and just hope I forget about this film as soon as possible. It is as bad as the title suggests. Highly not recommended and by the way, the photo here on imdb is also a bit misleading because Sellem did not exactly look like that in the movie. So even the promo is a lie. Disgusting!
Now a few words on the plot and story here. I already mentioned some key aspects earlier. I will be honest. The moment Schubert's character is still joking about her being the boss was not bad, but the absolutely ironic thing is that what he was oking about even became reality afterwards in the most ridiculous sense possible. And I don't mean "ridiculous" in a positive sense at all here. Absolutely not. The opposite is the case. But ut was also these smaller moments whhere the film sucked a lot, not only the key story. Just take the second she sits down on te boss chair for the first time and it won't hold her. What was that supposed to mean? That her boss is playing a mean game with her? That many struggles will be ahead? It has been the most pathetic use of foreshadowing and metaphors I have seen in quite some time. Or afterwards when the woman working outside as receptionist or so or secretary talks via webcam to the old man and how he has his camera not in the right spot and when he corrects it, is wrong on the other end of the scale. These were those little shots at humor the film had to offer and it was cringeworthy to watch honestly. Of course, after more pathetic inclusions like the boss really missing at home what they were initially joking about, the movie gets worse and worse. Take the dog eating a whole chicken and having to throw up afterwards again for example. Oh yes, like many other times, this film is fully anti-male again as usual. Be it the sleazy main antagonist and his shenanigans, the latter's father who is also incompetent until his final scene when he helps the female protagonist and talks tacheles (as we say in German) to him. By the way, very realistic that Pleitgen's character makes sure the old man arrives and sees what happens to his company. And don't even get me started about Pleitgen's character now probably starting a romantic relationship with the receptionist. Sigh. Very weak also how she says on one occasion something like nobody's waiting for her. I guess there they wanted to appeal to lonesome people in the audience, but it all feels so fake and staged and actually it made me think that is almost a bit insulting to actual loners. They want all the emotions, but they do not get iin one bit of talent. As for the anti-male aspect again, of course Schubert's character is also tempted to have an affair because men just cannot be faithful. Or at least not 100% faithful, but in the end he realizes of course how Sellem's character is so desirable and the best and most stunning etc. and returns to her. And yes, the receptionist is fixed too. She seemed a bit like a minor antagonist as well early on, but Sellem's character's dedication and competence won her over. After all she is a female, so she cannot be evil or anything. Okay, well what else is there to say. It is absolutely ridiculous everything, also how they definitely went big with constant talk and negotiations that would result in the end of the company. Obviously. If dreaming big means an outcome like the one we have here, then I'd rather not dream at all. Again, it may sound harsh, but it was truly this bad. Just wanna make sure you all skip the watch here. There are probably at least half a dozen other scenes and inclusions and twists, actually probably a full dozen, I could mention and criticize here, but I shall skip this endeavor and just hope I forget about this film as soon as possible. It is as bad as the title suggests. Highly not recommended and by the way, the photo here on imdb is also a bit misleading because Sellem did not exactly look like that in the movie. So even the promo is a lie. Disgusting!
