"Es kommt noch besser" is a German television film from May 2015, so this one is already over five years old and these 1.5 hours were on ZDF earlier today, so no ARD Degeto production and this also means it will not be shwon that often in the future. This is actually a good thing, but I shall talk about the quality (or lack thereof) a little later. First of all, the basics: The title means something like "it's getting even better" in an ironic way, but yeah you can see from my title (i.e. the title of my review what I am thinking about that. Director Froschmayer was in his 40s at that point already, writer Maiwald in her 30s and both were fairly experienced back in 2015 in their craft, the director more than the writer. However, if you take a look at the stuff they have worked on over the years ("Im Namen des Gesetzes", "SOKO", "Tatort", "Großstadtrevier"), then you know you really should not expect any quality here, even if admittedly everything I just mentioned is more about the drama (if we ignore Fedder's tongue-in-cheek approach) and this film here is also dramatic, but also has many lighter moments. I mean they not only failed with the comedy here, but also absolutely were not capable of delivering convincing plots about existential crises linked to job life, pregnancies and of course the fairly forced happy ending did not feel realistic or authentic either. The big argument between the female protagonist and the young woman was typical because they always do it at the very end that there is a massive, but still that one is somehow solved at the very end like a miracle honestly. Authenticity is not needed as long as the audience is as happy as the characters. Sigh. The simple-minded audience members this approach is gonna work for I guess. Also, even if this is no Degeto film where this is almost always the case, this film is pretty much anti-male as well. The love interest needs to court the female protagonist constantly and accept her initial rejection. The young man runs away disrespectfully from his girlfriend even before he knows she is pregnant. And let's not even talk about the Asian dude in the classroom and also the teacher there. As much of a parody and as shallow as it gets really. Like take the teacher, he has not managed to get somebody into work in ages. First of all, he would not admit that to everybody. Second of all, he would not work there anymore if this was true. Sigh. Of course, he gets a little romance closure also with Eisinger's character. I kinda like her. Also physically and nice outfit she wore in here for a hetero male like myself. Surprised to see her in a film like this playing such a minor character though. I think she is better than that. Instead, they waste her on a story where nothing is memorable about her character really (except the looks) and she probably gets together in the end with the gross sneezing fella. As I am talking about the cast already, the one you see on the photo is Andrea Sawatzki. Honestly, I don't think she is a terrible actress like Neubauer, Ferres, Thomalla, Furtwängler and others, but with projects like these she is really not doing herself any favors. Her male co-lead here is played by August Zirner and these two are probably also the most known cast members. You can add Eisinger for younger audiences and Brückner maybe too. Löbau early on is also not a nobody, but her screen time here is really limited. Still, her solid recognition value always makes it easy to identify her. So much for the cast.
I think this film really struggles with realism. There are some very bad moments I will elaborate on in a second, but no matter if these were meant in a playful way, in a deep way, in an authentic way, nothing about that is the case really. It all felt false in the end. Also the small moments. I already mentioned a bit in the first paragraph, but how likely is it that the two women have the exact same job ad the exact same day? Come on. Or yes, how romance must also happen on at least two occasions in the end. I already stated those. Or the spontaneous decision of the male protagonist that he should become a tennis instructor. And let's not even get into detail about him all of a sudden realizing that he is into Sawatzki's character after they have worked together for many years. Or the scene in which he is about to commit suicide. Hang himself. I mean even with the humiliation before that (also written over the top in a really poor manner how he listens to the other guy there) it felt like pseudo drama of the worst kind. I mean in general the idea of a woman struggling after losing her job and getting her life on track again is not bad, also with the job integration course we get to witness and all the characters there, but this stopped being realistic so quickly. The scene at the unemployment agency was still alright I suppose. But just take the vet example about Eisinger's character. Would you deem it realistic that the guy who runs the training does not tell her that all she could become is an assistant? Maybe Eisinger's character upset reaction is slightly more realistic, but also not much and at best feels authentic because everything else feels even more unauthentic. So yeah, there is really a lot wrong with this movie. The addition of the former husband or man and now landlord do not add quality either at all. Very much for the sake of it again. Sawatzki was also a disappointment all in all. I mean I would not have expected her to turn this really weak script into quality, but at least a little bit better I could have hoped for. She has some okay material here and there like the moments when she talks about managing stuff herself first from the independent woman perspective, but these also felt shallow and did not make an impact on me at all I must admit. It's really difficult for me to find quality with this film altogether if I'm honest. It's a massive thumbs-down and kinda sucks that this will probably be on for at least another ten years. On national television, that is. This is where your GEZ money goes, folks. Disgraceful stuff. As for this film, I give out an absolutely negative evaluation. Highly not recommended and the further you stay back from it, the better. The worst about it is that it acts (also with the over-the-top soundtrack) as if it was an authentic character study of people struggling with life in the 2010s. It is the exact opposite.
I think this film really struggles with realism. There are some very bad moments I will elaborate on in a second, but no matter if these were meant in a playful way, in a deep way, in an authentic way, nothing about that is the case really. It all felt false in the end. Also the small moments. I already mentioned a bit in the first paragraph, but how likely is it that the two women have the exact same job ad the exact same day? Come on. Or yes, how romance must also happen on at least two occasions in the end. I already stated those. Or the spontaneous decision of the male protagonist that he should become a tennis instructor. And let's not even get into detail about him all of a sudden realizing that he is into Sawatzki's character after they have worked together for many years. Or the scene in which he is about to commit suicide. Hang himself. I mean even with the humiliation before that (also written over the top in a really poor manner how he listens to the other guy there) it felt like pseudo drama of the worst kind. I mean in general the idea of a woman struggling after losing her job and getting her life on track again is not bad, also with the job integration course we get to witness and all the characters there, but this stopped being realistic so quickly. The scene at the unemployment agency was still alright I suppose. But just take the vet example about Eisinger's character. Would you deem it realistic that the guy who runs the training does not tell her that all she could become is an assistant? Maybe Eisinger's character upset reaction is slightly more realistic, but also not much and at best feels authentic because everything else feels even more unauthentic. So yeah, there is really a lot wrong with this movie. The addition of the former husband or man and now landlord do not add quality either at all. Very much for the sake of it again. Sawatzki was also a disappointment all in all. I mean I would not have expected her to turn this really weak script into quality, but at least a little bit better I could have hoped for. She has some okay material here and there like the moments when she talks about managing stuff herself first from the independent woman perspective, but these also felt shallow and did not make an impact on me at all I must admit. It's really difficult for me to find quality with this film altogether if I'm honest. It's a massive thumbs-down and kinda sucks that this will probably be on for at least another ten years. On national television, that is. This is where your GEZ money goes, folks. Disgraceful stuff. As for this film, I give out an absolutely negative evaluation. Highly not recommended and the further you stay back from it, the better. The worst about it is that it acts (also with the over-the-top soundtrack) as if it was an authentic character study of people struggling with life in the 2010s. It is the exact opposite.
