"Türkisch für Anfänger" is a German film from 3 years ago that is actually a spin-off from a really successful German television series. I have not seen that series, but it's really hard for me to believe that they made it work looking at how big a mess this film has become. The writer and director is Bora Dagtekin and he was also the creator of the television show. You may know him better from his recent film "Fack Ju Göhte", one of the most commercially successful German movies of all time and of course they will make a sequel soon. But back to this one here. The biggest problem is definitely the script. Hardly a single line feels authentic that it's really coming from the character and not just an actor pretending to say it. Of course this also has to do with the talent (or lack thereof) from the lead actors Josefine Preuß and Elyas M'Barek.
They thought to make this somewhat special by putting all the action on a tropic island, but they really failed here. The banter by the protagonists and the constant question on how masculine is too masculine and how emancipated the female character has to be in order to be respected but not annoying is pretty bad. It's sad to see how this film actually takes itself so seriously at times and at other times is trying so hard to be funny. And it fails on all fronts. One of the worst parts would be when that guy kisses the mother of Preuß' character at the end, but it still can be worse. The worst moment of all is when the mother tells the daughter that she is glad that her daughter finally did drugs. Like wtf? Then again, it's just the tip of the iceberg. There are embarrassing scenes every couple minutes. Truly embarrassing. Not just uninteresting and unrealistic, but really even way worse than that. Probably the worst German movie of 2012 and it's quite a shame it's actually among the most known from that year too as it really gives a bad name to German cinema. Highly recommended to stay away.
They thought to make this somewhat special by putting all the action on a tropic island, but they really failed here. The banter by the protagonists and the constant question on how masculine is too masculine and how emancipated the female character has to be in order to be respected but not annoying is pretty bad. It's sad to see how this film actually takes itself so seriously at times and at other times is trying so hard to be funny. And it fails on all fronts. One of the worst parts would be when that guy kisses the mother of Preuß' character at the end, but it still can be worse. The worst moment of all is when the mother tells the daughter that she is glad that her daughter finally did drugs. Like wtf? Then again, it's just the tip of the iceberg. There are embarrassing scenes every couple minutes. Truly embarrassing. Not just uninteresting and unrealistic, but really even way worse than that. Probably the worst German movie of 2012 and it's quite a shame it's actually among the most known from that year too as it really gives a bad name to German cinema. Highly recommended to stay away.